Provident Music Group (PMG) announced this week the launch of a song-publishing division to be called Essential Music.

PMG President and CEO Terry Hemmings said Holly Zabka will direct the new company's operations and initiatives as its senior director of publishing. Hemmings said Zabka "brings years of experience and many strong relationships into our new publishing venture. I believe she is the right person to start us on a successful journey into music publishing, and bring value and opportunity to our writers and artists."

Zabka served for more than eight years as a creative director for Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing in Brentwood, Tenn. While there, she managed the creative development of a team of more than 60 staff and songwriters, who produced a catalog of 70,000-plus songs.