Publishing
The Wiggles Sign Exclusive, Global Deal With Universal Music Publishing Group
To celebrate their third decade of lighting up kids’ faces, The Wiggles kick off a year-long national tour of Australia this April, featuring current members Emma Watkins (The Yellow Wiggle), Lachlan Gillespie (Purple) and Simon Pryce (Red) and co-creator Anthony Field (Blue). “This is going to be such a monumental year for The Wiggles,” Field comments in a statement issued Wednesday, “and we couldn’t be happier to be celebrating it with Universal Music Publishing.” The founding members formed The Wiggles, having met while studying Early Childhood Education at Sydney’s Macquarie University. Field, he later recounted, had the thought of recording an album of children’s music, the idea being that it might help him land a job as a teacher. It turned out to be a bright idea. With a...
Egypt court acquits TikTok stars jailed over ‘debauchery’
An Egyptian appeals court has acquitted two young women imprisoned for “attacking society’s values” over videos they published on TikTok. The women had been sentenced to two years in prison last July for “breaching public morals”. “The court of appeal accepted the appeal filed by Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham against their imprisonment … on charges of incitement to debauchery and attacking society’s values,” a court official said on Tuesday, asking not to be named. Hossam, 20, was acquitted after being jailed for encouraging women among her 1.3 million subscribers to broadcast videos in exchange for money, while al-Adham’s two-year sentence for publishing indecent photos and videos was cancelled. Hossam’s lawyer Hussein El Bakar told Thomson Reuters Foundation that her client, a studen...
OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder Sells Majority Stake in Catalog to KKR
The catalog of nearly 500 songs written, recorded or produced by Tedder encompasses all OneRepublic songs — including hits “Apologize,” “Secrets” and “Counting Stars” — as well as Tedder’s work with artists like Beyoncé, U2, Paul McCartney, Adele, Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Jonas Brothers. Going forward, KKR will collaborate with Tedder to “expand upon the success and reach” of his and OneRepublic’s music, according to a press release. Formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., KKR has a long history of music industry investments. It teamed with Bertelsmann for the music rights joint venture BMG Rights Management in 2009, controlling 51% until Bertelsmann t...
Recoup, There It Is: An Artist’s Guide to Royalty Hunting (Guest Column)
The good news is that, thanks in large part to a growing coalition of artist advocates, led by SoundExchange, many countries are beginning to pay American performers. In the coming years, we expect most countries to accept the notion of “National Treatment,” which means that if you pay your citizens, you pay American citizens, too. So, now’s the time to register with a collection agent for your works. If you are a producer or musician, make sure you are properly credited for all the parts you play. That helps significantly in some countries, like Germany. This revenue can range from a few bucks to a few hundred thousand dollars. It matters, so get it straight. 2. The Desk Audit: If you are signed to a record label or music publisher, it’s a good idea to investigate ...
Neil Young Sells 50% of Song Catalog to Hipgnosis
“I built Hipgnosis to be a company Neil would want to be a part of,” Mercuriadis said in a statement. “We have a common integrity, ethos and passion born out of a belief in music and these important songs… This is a deal that changes Hipgnosis forever and it’s a dream to welcome Neil, Frank, Bonnie and the team to the Hipgnosis family.” Young had been managed for decades by Elliot Roberts, who passed away last year. His affairs are now handled by Frank Gironda, an associate of Roberts who was mentioned in the announcement, as was Bonnie Levitan, another member of Young’s management team. Young, 75, has been releasing projects from his archives for the past few years, and in 2020 he put out two such sets, plus a 10-CD box set, Archives Volume II: 1972-1976. The terms of this deal were...
Music’ Big Deal Maker: David Dunn of Shot Tower Capital on Shepherding Sales in a Hot Market
Dunn, who graduated from Bucknell University with a master’s in economics and has a law degree from American University, started his career as an economist with the U.S. government and then became a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer before going into banking — and forging relationships with music business players like Jackson estate executor John Branca and former Sony/ATV chairman/CEO Martin Bandier, or Big Deal’s founder and president Kenny MacPherson and Pulse’s co-CEO Scott Cutler, whose firms he helped sell to Hipgnosis and (a stake in) to Concord, respectively. Before he began his investment banking career, while still working as an economist while going to law school at night, he once made money on the side as a bartender, including at one of Bill Clinton’s 1993 inaugural ...
Universal Music Group, Concord Extend Global Distribution Deal
“UMG and Concord have built a wonderful relationship over the past 15 years,” comments Concord CEO Scott Pascucci in a statement. “As we have grown, they have provided the support that we needed to expand the worldwide success of our frontline labels, the KIDZ BOP franchise, Craft Recordings, and the rest of our catalog. We are very pleased to be renewing this partnership with Universal.” Adds Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group: “Our partnership with Concord is built on a foundation of shared values. We both put artists and creativity at the center of everything we do.” Grainge continues, “I couldn’t be happier to extend our partnership and l look forward to even more success working with Scott, Tom, Sig and the entire Concord team.” The independent Concord music gro...
Uproar: Lil Wayne Actually Sold The Young Money Catalog To Universal Music Group?
Source: Prince Williams / Getty There are more layers to Lil Wayne’s recent business moves than we all thought. It has been seemingly confirmed that he sold the rights to his Young Money imprint. Last week, it was reported the Trump supporter had sold his master recordings for a whopping $100 million dollars. There were several layers to unpack with regards to this monumental sale when you consider that it was announced that he plead guilty to federal weapons charges. As spotted on Music Business Worldwide the New Orleans native actually sold the Young Money Entertainment catalog to his parent company Universal Music Group. His former manager Ronald E. Sweeney is claiming he was cut out of his rightful earnings which add up to about to $20 million dollars. Sweeney’s lawsuit alleges th...
Mary Megan Peer Succeeds Father Ralph Peer II as Peermusic CEO
As executive chair, Ralph Peer II will retain corporate board responsibilities at peermusic, including providing expertise that helped build the company into one of the world’s top independent music publishing firms. (In the third quarter of 2020, peermusic ranked ninth by marketshare on the Top Radio Airplay chart and 10th on the Hot 100 Songs chart.) Moreover, Peer II will continue to serve as a member of several industry boards, including the National Music Publishers’ Association NMPA and International Confederation of Music Publishers. “It’s been a very satisfying challenge to have stewarded peermusic’s heritage repertoire made possible through the genius of my father and the savoir faire of my mother while simultaneously keeping our firm active and successfully engaged wi...
The Rolling Stones Tap BMG for Global Neighboring Rights, Extend Publishing Deal
BMG has signed up The Rolling Stones to represent the band globally in pursuing collections of master recording performance rights royalties when their songs are played on radio and television, also known as neighboring rights. While in the U.S., master recording performance royalties are only paid when music is played on digital and satellite radio — and not when tracks play on terrestrial radio or TV — in most other countries those rights receive royalty payments for that kind of play in addition to digital. This signing gives a big boost to BMG’s neighboring rights service, launched only six months ago. “If you are in the business of selling services to artists and songwriters, these are the kinds of client you dream of attracting,” BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said in ...
Buma/Stemra, APRA AMCOS Forge Pan-Asian Licensing Deal
The pan-Asian hub was announced in 2013 following a “groundbreaking deal with foundation member Universal Music Publishing. It exists to offer full-service digital licensing, processing and distribution for copyright holders across the Asian region, including India. “The online market is growing rapidly in Asia,” comments Bernard Kobes, CEO of Buma/Stemra. “We’re thrilled that our members from now on will benefit from that growth. We really look forward to working closely together with the excellent APRA AMCOS team in order to maximize the revenue stream for our members.” Adds Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS: “We are excited to welcome our trusted society partner Buma/Stemra into our industry-leading Pan Asian Multi-Territory Licensing Hub. We look forward to working closely with the...
Universal Music Publishing Buys Bob Dylan’s Song Catalog
Another factor, industry sources say, is that the generation of singer-songwriters who came of age in the sixties and seventies is at a point where they’re thinking about their legacies, as well as estate planning. On December 4, Primary Wave Music Publishing announced that it had acquired a majority stake in the catalog of singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks, in a deal that The Wall Street Journal reported valued her compositions at $100 million. That deal and Dylan’s could trigger more big catalog transactions. This is a unique prize, however. Among the songwriters of the rock era, only the Beatles are as influential as Dylan, the only songwriter to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The catalog includes more than 600 compositions, written over the course of six decades, including “Blo...
