
And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan
Every week, we sit down with an acclaimed and venerable songwriter to intimately discuss what happens behind closed doors in the music industry. There are millions of singers, thousands of artists, and only 40 top songs per genre at a time... this podcast is about the people who make them. Produced by Joe London & Ross Golan in association with Big Deal Music & Mega House Music. And The Writer Is... ™ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest episodes

Aug 8, 2022 • 1h 16min
Ep. 159: Sabrina Carpenter
Today’s guest has enchanted an audience of millions as a singer, songwriter, actress, designer, producer and style icon. In her music, she has delivered one anthem after another on stage and in the studio, earning multiple gold certifications, and performing to sold out crowds far and wide. On-screen, she has generated mega-fandom throughout television and film. She had her first leading role in the 2019 movie The Short History of the Long Road, which premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival with rave reviews and earned her the Jury Award for “Best Performance” at the 2019 SCAD Savannah Film Festival. Our guest also led the cast and executive produced Netflix’s Work It which debuted at #1 on the platform upon its release in 2020. In the same year, she made her Broadway debut starring in Mean Girls. She then starred in Justin Baldoni’s Warner Bros feature Clouds (Disney+). Her growing musical catalog encompasses gold singles— “Thumbs”, “Sue Me” and “Why”—and the albums Singular: Act I & Singular: Act II. Of her music, Time Magazine wrote “she’s one to watch” and V Magazine added “With two successful pop albums and a hard-hitting social commentary under her belt, Carpenter’s career has matured faster than many of her Disney-bred predecessors.” In addition to her growing list of acting and music credits, in 2020 she was selected for Forbes’ prestigious “30 Under 30” list. She also co-stars in the recently released comedy thriller film Emergency (Amazon Prime), which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Our guest recently signed to Island Records, where she released her newest smash hit singles “Skin,” “Skinny Dipping,” “Fast Times” and “Vicious.” She just recently released her studio album, Emails I Can’t Send, on July 15, 2022. And The Writer Is… Sabrina Carpenter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 1, 2022 • 3min
And The Update Is...August 1st, 2022
Your weekly update with industry news and happenings from ATWI. Update for the week of August 1st, 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 25, 2022 • 1h 34min
Ep. 158: Theron Thomas (Rock City)
Today’s guest is a singer-songwriter born of Caribbean roots with records that have entertained masses for over 15 years and his momentum has yet to stop. His talents touch the core elements of a hit record; whether he’s lighting up the stage as a performer or writing and producing your favorite top-charting hit. As a native of St. Thomas, VI; he first entered the music industry as one half of powerhouse duo R.City, alongside his brother. The road to becoming a world-renowned artist and songwriter isn’t always as smooth as one may hope. The brothers arrived in the US with only $35 to their name, sleeping in studios and on the MARTA (Atlanta’s public transportation); but their mindset remained ambitious. At 25yrs old, our guest and his brother Timothy signed their first deal with Akon propelling them into the next stage in their career, making hits. While signed to Akon, the Thomas brothers’ catalog grew and the potential for producing #1 records became a reality. R.City penned Mario's "Music For Love", Sean Kingston “Take You There” and Pussycat Dolls “When I Grow Up”; as well as music for Janet Jackson, Chris Brown, Flo Rida, and Usher. Later R.City signed to RCA and Dr. Luke and this relationship led to popular songs that dominated radio by Ciara, Beyonce, Nikki Minaj, Rhianna, Miley Cyrus and many more. Now, after years of success he continues to produce grammy award-winning projects like Grammys 2020 Best Contemporary Album “Cuz I Love You” by Lizzo, #1 Rhythmic Radio Hits like "Best Friend" by Saweetie & Doja Cat and "Big Energy" by Latto. 4x Grammy-winning songwriter and strategic businessman, our guest has merely scratched the surface of his capabilities. And The Writer Is… Theron Thomas from Rock City! Watercolor by: Michael Richey White Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 11, 2022 • 1h 7min
Ep. 157: girl in red
Today’s guest is continuing her path to world domination, kicking off 2022 with a Best New Alternative Artist nomination for the iHeart Radio Music Awards. It’s a well deserved nod after being the most played female artist on Alt Radio with “Serotonin.” The song reached #2 and spent 30 weeks on the Alt chart, 21 of those weeks in the Top 10. “Serotonin” streams surpassed 84M for the track, with over 1.85 billion career streams to date. Her first headline tour since the release of her debut completely sold out the North American run and was a hot pick at the Coachella Music Festival this past April. Since our guest released her critically acclaimed debut album if i could make it go quiet last year, the album received world-wide critical acclaim from fans and critics alike and was revered by the likes of Taylor Swift, Camilla Cabello and more. It was included on “Best of 2021” lists from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, NPR, Stereogum, NYLON, and more. In 2021, she also performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers, as well as TV performances worldwide on Skavlan, Late Night Berlin, and MTV’s EMAs. And The Writer Is… Girl In Red!Watercolor by: Michael Richey White Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 27, 2022 • 1h 41min
Ep. 156: Craig Wiseman
Today’s guest is one of country music’s most renowned, talented and distinguished writers. From his early days of writing and drumming in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to being crowned Songwriter of the Century by ASCAP, he has indeed created for himself a monumental platform in the history of country music. As the writer of songs including Brooks and Dunn’s “Believe” to Blake Shelton’s “Boys ‘Round Here” to Morgan Wallen’s “Chasin’ You”, he has amassed over 350 cuts, 130 singles, and 29 #1’s. After moving to Nashville in 1985 to pursue a career in songwriting, he received his first chart success after having co-written “The Only One” from Roy Orbison’s album, Mystery Girl. In 1990, our guest signed his first publishing deal with Almo/Irving Music, and ten years later, he signed with BMG Music Publishing. In 2003, he opened his own publishing company, and within the first year of the independent company’s operation, he experienced the first single of the catalog; “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw not only peaked at the top of the charts for ten weeks, but it also was named NSAI Song of the Year, CMA Song of the Year, ACM Song of the Year and won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. In 2012, our guest co-founded Big Loud’s management division, the launchpad of Florida Georgia Line, followed by Big Loud Records in 2015. His success has continued to escalate at exponential levels throughout the years. He was proclaimed ASCAP’s “Songwriter of the Year” in 2003, 2005, and 2007 in addition to being named “Writer of the Year” by NSAI and Music Row in 1997. In 2009, he received the impressive honor of NSAI’s “Songwriter of the Decade” and won the 2014 Heritage Award from ASCAP as the most performed country songwriter of the century. Following those years of success, hard work & accomplishments, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in October of 2015. In 2017, he was honored with a CMA Triple Play Award for FGL’s “Anything Goes” & Blake Shelton’s “Gonna” & “Came Here To Forget.”. For the past 18 years, Wiseman has hosted The Stars of Second Harvest Show at the Ryman, showing his philanthropic heart and giving all proceeds to the Second Harvest Food Bank Of Middle Tennessee. To date, this musical event has raised over $2 million for the food bank. And The Writer Is… Craig Wiseman!Watercolor by: Michael Richey White Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 21, 2022 • 3min
And The Update Is...June 21st, 2022
Your weekly update with industry news and happenings from ATWI. Update for the week of June 21st, 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 13, 2022 • 1h 18min
Ep. 155: Blake Slatkin
Today’s guest is an American songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his work with Justin Bieber, Lil Nas X, Lizzo, The Kid Laroi, and Gracie Abrams. He has charted five songs in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, including The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” and 24kGolden and iann dior’s “Mood” which both charted at number one. Our guest was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and began playing guitar at 10 years old. After playing in bands and singing covers at venues around LA, he discovered what it meant to be a producer and became enamored with the career. At 16, he began an internship with producer Benny Blanco before moving to New York City to attend New York University. While attending NYU, he worked as a producer and songwriter with Gracie Abrams and Omar Apollo, executive producing both their debut projects. After dropping out of NYU to return to Los Angeles, he began working full time on music. During the pandemic in 2020, he met and began working with longtime collaborators The Kid Laroi, Lil Nas X, Omer Fedi, and 24k Golden. In October of that year, he got his first Billboard Hot 100 #1 song with “Mood” ft. Iann Dior, which topped the chart for 8 weeks. Later that year he produced The Kid Laroi’s breakout hit “Without You” and in July of 2021 produced “Stay,” a fast-paced pop rap, pop rock, and synth-pop song, which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for 7 weeks, later becoming the 2nd longest running song in the top 10 of all time and spent the most weeks at #1 in pop radio history. He earned a nomination at the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards for Album of the Year for Lil Nax X’s ‘Montero,’ which Slatkin worked on as a producer and songwriter, working on “That’s What I Want”. Our guest was named to Variety’s Hitmakers of the Year in 2021 and to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List in 2022. He was an honoree for Pop Song of the Year at the 2022 BMI Pop Awards for “Mood” and was nominated for Producer of the Year at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards! And The Writer Is… Blake Slatkin!Watercolor by: Michael Richey White Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 6, 2022 • 3min
And The Update Is...June 6th, 2022
Your weekly update with industry news and happenings from ATWI. Update for the week of June 6th, 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 31, 2022 • 1h 24min
Ep. 154: Justin Kalifowitz
Today’s guest is a lifelong advocate for empowering creators and the Founder and Executive Chairman of Downtown Music Holdings. Since its start in 2007, Downtown has become the leading service provider to the global music business by driving equity and innovation across the industry. As Executive Chairman, he leads Downtown’s Board of Directors, drives strategic development and works with the executive team on transformational growth opportunities for the organization. Today, Downtown manages more than 23 million music assets on behalf of over one million artists and enterprise clients hailing from 145 countries from a catalog that spans 100 years of popular music, including music for film and television, and the single largest independent sound recording catalog in the industry. The company’s diverse client base features some of the biggest brands in music and entertainment, including iconic songwriters, composers and recording artists, major film and television production studios, gaming companies, the world’s largest music companies, music asset owners and other music service providers. Over the course of his career, our guest has received numerous esteemed recognitions, including Variety’s New Leaders, Billboard’s Power 100, Crain’s New York “40 Under 40,” and is a recipient of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) Indie Award. He serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and is co-founder of NY is Music, a non-profit coalition dedicated to advancing the importance of the role of music in economic development, culture, and education in New York State. And The Executive Is… Justin Kalifowitz! Watercolor by: Michael Richey White Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 23, 2022 • 3min
And The Update Is...May 23, 2022
Your weekly update with industry news and happenings from ATWI. Update for the week of May 23rd, 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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