Warner Chappell Music, the publishing arm of Warner Music Group, has renewed its long-running global publishing deal with country superstar Kacey Musgraves.
“Warner Chappell has been a wonderful longstanding home for my songs and I’m so grateful for the continuation into a future I’m so excited about,” Musgraves said in a statement on Thursday (September 4).
Musgraves, an eight-time Grammy winner, recently received the Songwriter Icon Award from the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). Her 2024 album Deeper Well (MCA Nasvhille/Interscope), became her fifth consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and featured the hit The Architect, which won Best Country Song at the 2025 Grammys.
“Kacey has been a valuable part of our Warner Chappell family here in Nashville for a long time, and we’re proud to continue championing her artistry and songs,” WCM Nashville General Manager Phil May added.
“She joined WCM shortly after I did, and I was fortunate to be a part of her first deal with us. It’s been an honor to watch her career growth over the years, and we’re very excited to see what the future holds for her as she continues to raise the bar as both a songwriter and artist.”
In a joint statement, WCM Co-Chair and CEO Guy Moot and Co-Chair and COO Carianne Marshall called Musgraves “an exceptionally gifted songwriter who has been a powerful voice in country music from the start,” and added they’re “looking forward to helping shape this next chapter.”
A native of Golden, Texas, Musgraves began writing songs at the age of eight and shortly after learned to play the guitar and mandolin. She released three self-produced albums as a teenager in the early 2000s.
“Warner Chappell has been a wonderful longstanding home for my songs and I’m so grateful for the continuation into a future I’m so excited about.”
Kacey Musgraves
Her long-running relationship with Warner Chappell began around 2010, when at the age of 21 she joined the publisher as a staff writer, sometimes writing multiple songs in one day for various artists, according to a 2021 interview in the New York Times.
In 2013 she released her first major label album, Same Trailer Different Park (Mercury Nashville), which took home the Best Country Album award at the Grammys.
That was followed by Pageant Material (Mercury Nashville, 2015), A Very Kacey Christmas (Mercury Nashville, 2016), and Golden Hour (MCA Nashville, 2018), the groundbreaking album featuring the Grammy-winning tracks Space Cowboy (Best Country Song) and Butterflies (Best Country Solo Performance). With Golden Hour, Musgraves became only the third artist ever to win the Album of the Year award at the Grammys, Country Music Awards and ACM Awards.
Her 2023 duet with Zach Bryan, I Remember Everything, debuted in the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, marking first No. 1 on that chart. That track took the Best Country Duo/Group Performance award at the Grammys, making Musgraves the only artist to win a Grammy in every Country category.
The renewed deal with Musgraves comes on the heels of a number of other signings at Warner Chappell, including a worldwide admin deal this past April with Grammy-winning DJ and producer Diplo, and an admin and sub-publishing deal with French DJ and producer Bob Sinclar.Music Business Worldwide
