Nashville Music Blog

Winner of today's award for living like you're trying to write the plot for a potential Cohen brothers movie goes to William Grothe, a music industry guy who apparently faked his own death by making it appear that he had drowned in the Cumberland River.

His car was found near the Cumberland River boat ramp, and his wallet and cap were nearby. His jacket was found in the water.

Police said his motive is unclear.

Grothe, an attorney who worked for a company that collects royalties for songwriters, has not been charged. But detectives said a criminal case is being worked up.

Whatever his plan was, it seems to have hit a snag, to say the least. (Via WBKO.)

When I saw that this guy collected royalties for songwriters, it made me think of this article on p2pnet, about Soundexchange, a royalties-collecting agency that, according to one Nashville source, has "failed to track down 40,000...artists." That's a whole lot of back pay, which of course makes you wonder, you know, where the money is. I still don't really understand what a Ponzi scheme is, but when 40,000 people aren't getting paid, it sure seems like a scheme of some sort, doesn't it? The sort that might make you, oh I don't know, flee the state or something.

Just to be clear, I don't know that these two stories are connected in any real way. The City Paper suggests that police are implying that they might have a notion of what's going on: "Motives for the disappearance are not known, although police said Grothe had a life insurance policy worth about $1 million." Stakes is high, people.