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Kestin Named Partner in Keristene Music Publishing

Santa Ana, CA - (IFS) Kenneth Howard Smith, CEO of SDC OmniMedia Group did request that an inventory be given to the songwriter’s catalog of Keristene Music.  It is reported that approximately 578 compositions are now logged with Broadcast Music, Inc, Nashville and that of this group of songs, Linda Lou Kestin-Meier, since 1976 to the present has written over sixty (60%) percent of all the songs in the catalog.

It is requested that a split in the partnership is required.  Kestin and Smith have been contributing over the years to the catalog at a rate of 36 songs per year.  Some years produced no recordings and other years generated more then 150 songs to the catalog.  Smith request that the original owners keep their 33 1/3% each, and as an equal owner of 33 1/3%; that Smith be granted a split to his shares to 16.66% percent and transfer these offerings to Ms. Kestin-Meier and along with Smith shall continue to have only one (1) vote together; and that upon the non-participation of Mr. Smith or Ms. Kestin that his/her remaining shares shall be transferred to the remaining participant; which will bring his/her total shares to 33 1/3% percent. The vote for administration and control shall remain with the co-partner voted by the co-partners and shall be transferred every four (4) years on the first day of the month of January.

Keristene Music Publishing - The Start of a Publishing House

History of Keristene Music Publishers, Ltd.  The year was 1969 that Irene Tarbell decided she was not a great singer nor a good songwriter, but she knew where the powers lay; and the life blood of the music business was in the hands of the publisher.  Not the artist.  Not the producer.  Not the record company.   And you needed just one hit record.  Tarbell believed, Kenny Smith was good for at least one (1) HIT Record. 

Tarbell's vision that was in the administration of owning her own music publishing company.   It was with the birth of their daughter, Kristine that Tarbell decided to rename her little publishing company KERISTENE.   K.H.Smith Music transferred it's song catalog to Tarbell's Keristene Music, Ltd. company with the stipulation that Smith would always write his songs for Tarbell's publishing company and that all the shares would be split 1/3 each to Kristine, Kenneth and Irene.  Her mother's name is Irene and her father's name is Kenneth.  A combination of each of the parents and the baby's names created  Keristene.  The first recordings  to be licensed to the young company were written by co-founder Kenneth Howard Smith and Kristine's father. 

Tarbell's name appears on her KHS/Futura Records label with the1972 release of "Natural People"  that placed the single in the Warner Bros. Records office and the single In CashBox Magazine's top 100.  It was a turn table hit which send Tarbell her first check for airplay royalties.    A combination of each of the parents and the baby's names created  Keristene.   The first recordings  to be licensed to the young company were written by co-founder Kenneth Howard Smith and Kristine's father.   

The Rosamond, California group Purple Olive recorded Journey To The Center Of Your Heart which gathered a lot of listeners from their song being played on KUTY-AM, in Palmdale, California in that year when the station played local music.  After all, the Antelope Valley is the home of Billy Foster, Bobby Ormsby, Kenny Smith, Captain Beefheart's Don Van Vliet, Merrell Fankhauser, Jeff Cotton and  Frank Zapper to name a few.

It's a turn-table hit record with  Captain Don Imus, Andy Barber, Jerry Stevens and Bobby Ford kept spinning the four track tape cartridge with our song on it every hour on the hour for weeks, and it was their turn in the official radio rating logging for the clearing houses.   It was the most requested song to be played for an entire month.  KUTY radio signal reached the upper San Fernando Valley Area to Van Nuys Boulevard in North Hollywood to the south and Canoga park to the west of the valley.  The signal was very clear, and then it would disappear at various cross streets.

Today, the catalog is well over one thousand songs ranging in all styles of music.  This also gives you a chance to listen to the new songs of Linda Lou Kestin.  With over seven CD volumes of of her lyrics, set to songs by Kenny Smith. 

Ms. Kestin's international achievements are world renown as a school principal and an awarding songwriter.  In Contents Under Pressure, the new CD by Smith, revived one of her 1977 songs written with David Hasselhoff entitled One Of Those Girls.

Songwriters set to get big tax break on sale of life’s work
Rate up to 35% would drop to 15%


A Nashville songwriters group is singing the praises of Congress, which moved closer on Tuesday to giving artists who make a profit when they sell their compositions a tax break of 50 percent or more.

House and Senate negotiators agreed as part of a larger tax cut bill to reduce the top rate on the sale of songwriters' music catalogs, or collected works, from a top personal income tax rate of 35 percent to the lower capital gains rate of 15%.

That means people such as Liz Hengber, who penned a string of hits for Reba McEntire and sold the catalog of songs in 2000, would no longer have such windfalls treated as personal income, but rather as capital gains taxed at the lower rate.

"Here I am, little ol' Liz Hengber, all of 5-foot-2, 110 pounds, paying 40 percent in taxes when I sold my catalog," she said, "while my co-publisher, Warner Chappell, part of Time Warner, or whoever it is, a huge corporation, is paying just 15 (percent) or 16 percent."

It was cases such as Hengber's that prompted Nashville Songwriters Association International, or NSAI, to examine an anomaly in the law that prevented tunesmiths from selling "self-created" work under the more favorable capital gains rate.

Bart Herbison, NSAI's executive director, said his organization has spent the past five years and paid more than 500 visits to Washington in an effort to change the law.

"Now when songwriters sell their life's work, it will be treated like the sale of any other business," Herbison said. "For us, this is historic."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn..., who helped move the provision through a House-Senate conference committee, said Tuesday that this is a fair deal for songwriters.

"Songwriters deserve fair compensation for their work. This change in the tax code will reduce songwriters' taxes by up to 35 percent. It's a simple matter of fairness for artists who fuel a multibillion-dollar industry but often see a very small percentage of the revenues they help generate."

The provision will only apply to catalog sales — bodies of collected works that songwriters typically sell to music publishers for prices ranging from $300,000 to $3 million. Royalty income and advances for songwriters will still be taxed as personal income.

Still, Herbison said he expects critics to take a few potshots at his organization and at the lawmakers who supported the songwriters' tax break.

"We're going to take some heat on this. Everybody will think this is something that will make rich songwriters even richer," he said, adding that the typical songwriter brings in only about $5,000 a year, and that they deserve a chance to enjoy the fruits of their labor if they do get lucky with a string of hits.

Bob Regan, president of the NSAI board of directors and an active songwriter himself, said while he sold a catalog in recent years for a six-figure sum, it had taken him more than 20 years to get well-enough established to even be able to sell a body of work.

"When I sold that catalog, I had to make up for all the years of missed pension and retirement savings," said Regan, who has written hits for Keith Urban and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Hengber, whose catalog sold for under $500,000, said professional songwriters — people who don't sing or tour for a living — have to adopt a "squirrel" mentality and spread lump sums over several years.

"I'm never going to get money for merchandise or concerts. My story is very different from someone like Garth Brooks. As a songwriter, you have no guarantees."

Using music in therapy can be a very powerful way to reach children, adolescents, and adults in the therapeutic setting. Music in therapy can be a powerful way to help people express their feelings. Creative therapy can reach people in ways that traditional therapy sometimes cannot.

Matthew J. Bush, MSW, LSW, licensed therapist, has developed some very exciting and innovative techniques for use in therapy with children and adolescents. Please note, Mr. Bush is not a licensed music therapist, but draws on his own clinical experiences and knowledge. He advocates for the use of creativity in therapy. This includes the use of music, art, games, dance, and anything else creative you can imagine. On this site you will find articles about how popular music can be used in therapy, suggestions of popular music with therapeutic messages, creative techniques for use in the therapeutic setting, and information about Matt's recent publication, Utilizing Music as a Coping Skill: Featuring the Music of Freudian Slip which was recently featured in an issue of Counseling Today!

Also featured on this site is Freudian Slip, Matt's therapeutic rock band which features original music which takes a direct look at human emotion.  The songs focus on topics such as depression, abuse, addiction, and so forth.  These songs have been composed by Matt throughout his years as a therapist and represent struggles in his own life as well as those of his clients.  Includes songs written by children in therapy!

Matthew J. Bush, MSW, LSW is an experienced clinical and state licensed therapist who has successfully applied his techniques to countless children and adolescents in his work.  He has worked and performed for children in public and private schools, residential treatment facilities, and the community.  Matt has also spoken at statewide conferences, educating colleagues on the power of music as a coping skill.

The Power of Music Forums have just opened! I invite you all to come in and post your thoughts about using music and other creative methods in therapy. Let's all learn from each other!

Keristene Music Publishing Subsidiaries:  K.H.Smith Music Publications - Gant Mizick Music - Coleman Kestin Smith Music