MACON – Mercer Music at Capricorn will host a Songwriting Seminar on March 29 as the next program in its ongoing Professional Development Series. The one-day seminar will feature award-winning music industry leaders and artists from Nashville who will address topics such as songwriting techniques, how to make songs commercially successful, how to write songs and music for film and television, and how to copyright and license music.

Co-sponsored by Mercer’s Townsend School of Music, seminar presenters include:
- Kim Albritton is an author, musician, music executive and entrepreneur with extensive experience in music licensing at Universal Music and Music Reports, and currently serves as licensing manager at ClearBox Rights, a Nashville-based independent IP rights management company. She earned a master’s degree in global entertainment at Berklee College of Music. While living and working in Los Angeles, Albritton wrote and directed her first short film, Happy Hour, which won a Bronze Award at the LA Independent Shorts Film Festival.
- John C. Barker is founder, president and CEO of ClearBox Rights and has worked with a variety of clients including Marty Robbins, Roy Orbison, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Loretta Lynn, Amy Grant and Seals and Crofts. He is past president and a current board member of the Copyright Society of the South.
- Cameron Bedell is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter and producer who was featured on Season 14 of American Idol and has gone viral with multiple cover songs. He has written songs for artists such as Chris Lane, Jimmie Allen, Lauren Alaina, Dylan Scott, Hailey Whitters, Nate Smith, Nelly and many more.
- Steve Ivey is a Mercer graduate and Nashville-based musician, songwriter, producer and studio owner/executive who has produced/recorded/mixed more than 325 albums, working with such artists as Dolly Parton, Carly Pearce, The Oak Ridge Boys, Bill Anderson, Vince Gill, Crystal Gayle, Willie Nelson and many others. He is a two-time Emmy Award winner, four-time GRAMMY Award nominee, and his songs have reached No. 1 on Billboard charts 17 times.
- Jason Nix is a Nashville-based, award-winning, in-demand songwriter whose work has been featured on GRAMMY-nominated albums with artists including Keb’ Mo, Vince Gill, Darius Rucker and Lainey Wilson, including the Academy of Country Music Song of the Year “Things A Man Oughta Know” and “Hang Tight Honey,” which was included in Billboard’s Top 25 songs of the year in 2024.
- Maggie Renfroe Reeves is a 24-year-old singer/songwriter and Macon native who has opened for Jason Aldean, Chuck Leavell, Scotty McCreery and Randall Bramblett, among others.
“Our award-winning presenters for this day-long seminar include both up-and-coming songwriters who are rapidly making a name for themselves in Nashville, to songwriters with decades of experience,” said Ivey, who also serves as an adjunct instructor in Mercer’s School of Music. “Participants will learn how to write songs and music for other artists and for film and television, how to get a writing deal, how to navigate songwriter contracts and how to license their songs and music.”
The seminar begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 6 p.m.
Registration fee for the conference is $169, which includes access to all sessions. Up to 20 current Mercer students, faculty and staff can register for a discounted rate of $99. The full lineup of sessions, as well as online registration, is available at https://www.tixr.com/groups/mercerevents/events/songwriting-seminar-130199.
About Mercer Music at Capricorn
After undergoing a $4.7 million restoration in 2019, the historic Capricorn Sound Studios in Downtown Macon reopened in 2020 as a 20,000-square-feet multi-purpose music center designed to leverage Macon’s music heritage to create Macon’s music future. Incorporating the original studio where Southern Rock flourished and bands such as the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Wet Willie and Charlie Daniels recorded in the 1970s, Mercer Music at Capricorn added a second recording studio/concert venue, as well as a museum devoted to all things Capricorn, and a music incubator featuring 12 rehearsal rooms. The center also includes offices for related professionals and businesses, as well as non-profit arts organizations. Mercer Music at Capricorn is an affiliate of The GRAMMY Museum. Learn more at https://capricorn.mercer.edu/.