Today we’d like to introduce you to Thornton Cline.
Hi Thornton, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My mother was instrumental in starting my music career. She signed me up for piano lessons at age 5. I started making up little ditties and my mom told my teacher she was worried I wasn’t practicing out of my book. My teacher wasn’t concerned, he encouraged creativity. I continued to write little tunes through high school while learning violin, and self-teaching myself guitar, viola and cello. I had planned on a career in teaching music. I got a music education degree at Virginia Commonwealth University, then a master degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and finally an advanced degree at Eastman School of Music. Then I was hired to teach music at a high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Still, the creativity fever raged inside of me. I started visiting Nashville and was offered several publishing contracts. So, I moved to Nashville. I got my first big hit five years after I moved. “Love is the Reason” was “rejected”125’times before a publisher signed it. It was recorded by Engelbert Humperdinck and Gloria Gaynor on RCA Records. It’s been recorded 10 times since then and was awarded 2 gold records and a platinum record. The recordings kept on coming, up to today with a total of over 150 major and indy recordings. 10 years after my first major hit, I signed a five-year publishing staff writing deal with Gatlin Brothers Music. After a flood of cuts, I realized how important it was to hold onto my publishing, so I started my own ASCAP publishing company. I was working with a lot of amazing unsigned artists, so I started Clinetel Records Nashville, which today has 11 artists with 41 number one charted singles, Grammy nominations and several Josie and ISSA awards.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh, there were obstacles-plenty of rejections like the 125 people who turned down my hit song, “Love is the Reason”. I prefer to think of rejections as the process of elimination. It is a process to determine who is the best fit for the song and to find out which artist can become the most successful with it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am CEO of Clinetel Records Nashville with a roster of 11 signed artists. We have country, pop, punk rock, Gospel, Americana and CCM artists. I still write songs, and write some with these artists. We have a exclusive distribution deal with Sony-Orchard. I am proud of our artists with all their accomplishments: 41 number one charted singles, Grammy nominations, several Josie and ISSA Awards, and many other honors. We are a small independent label with exceptional, stand-out artists who don’t sound like everyone else, and with songs that are unique and don’t sound the same as many of the others we hear on the radio. Those are just some advantages that set us apart from the others.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The trend seems to be in strong favor of indie artists and indie labels. Ai continues to be a major threat to artists and songwriters in their survival and livelihood. It is almost like Déjà vu.
We saw the streaming thing coming years ago and look what it has done to many artists and songwriters-it has reduced their income dramatically.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Clinetelrecordsnashville.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Da1tgdbdW/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: https://Thorntoncline.com
