Songwriter

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Well hello all! This post is gonna be a little bit heady as it’s more about the biz of the music industry and songwriting in particular… But if you’re a brave soul read on!

This past week on August 31st, 2022 the Wall Street Journal printed the news of an agreement between streaming services (such as Spotify, iTunes, etc) and publishers to increase the compensation paid out for mechanical royalties… Basically what that means is Songwriters can earn more money from their recorded work when you stream music (like we all do constantly) basically anywhere. This is great news considering how most of the streaming services got to be the giants they are today on the backs of Artists and Songwriters work while simultaneously paying them as little as legally possible… and by legally I mean the laws governing streaming were few and scarce up until recently as the entire business only came to be within the past 20 years.

Thus this new agreement is an exciting step in the right direction! For the Wall Street Journal piece in it’s entirety click here: Songwriters and Music Publishers to be Paid More by Streaming Services

Thanks to you (yes you!) for reading and following along with me on this crazy musical journey! See ya soon!

-Kent

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Welp we are just shy of two weeks removed from the third stop in my “Fatal Love” tour. Looking forward to the next chapter happening up in Chicago. There’s gonna be a few really cool announcements made at the Madcats show along with a reveal of some cool stuff I’ve been working on so make sure you get there early and plan to stay the whole night cause it’s definitely going to be worth it! (Also they’ve got great food there so where else are ya gonna be for a Thursday night?)

The first stop of the tour in Nashville with my band was a huge success! (Check out a few photos below thanks to my buddy Nate with @claytoncorners). Working hard to make these shows the best that they can be!

Want to give a shoutout to everyone who’s been following along thus far in my journey and to say I see you and I appreciate you! I’ll be posting bi-weekly updates here so if you’re just now catching wind of my music blog make sure to subscribe so you can catch all the updates!

~Kent

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“Fatal Love” | 7.15.2022

Whew! It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally time!!! My latest singe “Fatal Love” is set to be released everywhere midnight tonight. Check out the link here: https://linktr.ee/thekentdean for that pre-save option as well as pre-order from iTunes and Amazon! (Actually tho haha- it really helps!)

This song is the culmination of a lot of hard work and life experiences rolled into one pretty personal expression of love and betrayal. It’s a heartbroken lovers expression of anguish. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Also note- I’ve got another kinda cool announcement coming soon so keep your eyes and ears open and tuned in to my socials and website for that in the upcoming days!

Thanks to you all!

~Kent

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A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of heading back up north to my old stomping grounds of Duluth, Minnesota for their inaugural North of Nashville showcase event. Such a tremendous opportunity and everyone was so incredibly welcoming- from the folks putting on the event to the attendees. It felt a lot like going home.

Anyways I just posted the full live video of my performance to the link below! Check it out and let me know what ya think! Cheers!

Kent Dean – “Don’t Let Me Fall“ | 2.5.2022

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Unreleased | “Tennessee”

STARTERS

As spring draws to a close here in Tennessee music, events, and venues around the country are starting to see an increase in performances. First off- yay!! It’s really exciting to witness the art and life of this town seemingly reborn.

NEW MUSIC

Yes. I’m heading back into the studio to work on three new songs to release later in 2021. With the delays and myriad issues 2020 posed to both music and the rest of the world I’m really looking forward to leaning into this season of creativity, production, and potential in the coming months and years.

THE IN-LIST

Yes, I’m aware that I don’t post as often to this blog as I should… but as the great Sherlock would say “the game is afoot!” And yes things are happening that should increase my ability to share content here in the very near future! So if you haven’t yet subscribed… do it! (Especially if you believe in my music and career for the long term. Think investment here as I will not soon forget those who believed when it wasn’t popular. Cause yeah. Someday soon… it’ll be the New Thing 😉

FINE

As always…. thanks for joining me on this journey and following along with my story. I love you all!

~Kent

(P.S Enjoy the full video of an unreleased song “Tennessee” above!) 🙂

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Well spring is in full swing here in Nashville. Finally seeing thunderstorms and rain showers rather than storm warnings… which is a good thing lol. But I could do without the tornado warnings.

In a couple weeks I’ll be expanding outwards from Nashville and attempting to find some gigs in St Louis, Missouri. Rather exciting news! We’ll see how it all plays out but everything is an adventure regardless so it will be a blast I’m sure.

In more immediate news, I’ll be headed back into the studio to work out a couple more tracks. This time they’re definitely less extensive in the production side of things (I mean what isn’t… have you heard Gypsy Heart??) Anyways, it’ll be mostly piano and vocals… but we might decide to throw some strings and guitar cause hey- Why not? I’m crazy.

This week looking to set up a live video shoot to record a couple live band songs— it’s kind of last minute but if it works out I’ll be sharing it here! So make sure to subscribe to this really sporadically posted, hopefully entertaining, but always erratic, blog of my musical journey!

Cheers!

-Kent

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Wow. Where to start for this one. 2020 has been INSANe so far this year… global pandemic, murder hornets (?), riots, cultural awareness, black lives matter. There’s been a whole heck of a lot to process, understand, learn, and opportunities to grow.

This post is special for me as it is my genuine pleasure to announce my first wide release, cross platform single!!! Gypsy Heart is available wherever you stream music on July 3rd, 2020– There has been an incredible amount of work put into this track and I am so immensely excited to get it out.

This track is really personal to me and is one that I needed to release to both start the creative journey of my upcoming EP (yes it’s in the works), as well as get this tracks message off my chest. It’s a story of a runaway, of a Gypsy Heart, or myself. I hope you can both relate to the message as well as appreciate the musicality that (admittedly) took a ton of planning and work. Also, as in my case, hit the freeway, roll the windows down, and let it rip!!! By far that’s my favorite way to listen cause it’s a JAAAMMMM!