Music News 10/20/11

Earlier this year Warner/Chappell and Combustion Music signed hitmaker Brett James. (L-R): BJ Hill (Sr. Director A&R WCM Nashville), Steve Markland (VP A&R WCM Nashville), Nate Lowery (Creative Director for Cornman Music), Brett James, Chris Farren (President Combustion Music), Phil May (VP & GM WCM Nashville), Alicia Pruitt (Sr. Director A&R WCM Nashville), Chris Van Belkom (Sr. Creative Director Combustion Music), Kenley Flynn (Catalog/Office Manager, Combustion Music). Photo: LeeAnn Carlen.

Warner/Chappell Music is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. Since its beginning in 1811 as Chappell & Co. the publisher has grown to a catalogue of more than one million copyrights and a diverse roster of 65,000 composers. A video tells the Warner/Chappell story, which began at a family music shop on London’s Bond Street, and continued through the rise of sheet music, a devastating fire, the merger with Warner Bros. and beyond. Included in the video are Nashville hitmakers Tim James, and Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley.

The local office has had recent hits with “Honey Bee,” and “Dirt Road Anthem.” Among the Nashville writers are Ben Hayslip, Little Big Town, Marv Green, Marcus Hummon, Randy Rogers, Tim Nichols, Wendell Mobley, Brantley Gilbert, Joel Shewmake, Deana Carter and many more. The Nashville branch is headed by VP/GM Phil May, and VP Steve Markland.

Design by Nick Bell, words and music by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

Throughout its history, Warner/Chappell has been home to legendary songwriters Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Some of the contemporary hitmakers include Dave Grohl, Daryl Hall, John Oates, Eric Clapton, Katy Perry, Michael Buble, R.E.M., Green Day, Muse, Timbaland, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Bruno Mars.

Warner/Chappell Chairman & CEO, Cameron Strang, said, “This major milestone is testament to the enduring talent of our songwriters, our culture of innovation, and the dedication of the people at Warner/Chappell. We’re thrilled to be celebrating this unique anniversary and we are looking forward to finding new ways of expanding our leaadership position and building our reputation as the industry’s most passionate and creative music publishing company.”

As part of the celebration, Warner/Chappell has commissioned leading graphic designers to transform well-known lyrics from its catalogue into works of art. The artwork is being featured at London’s StolenSpace gallery and can be purchased, with the proceeds being donated to the Save the Children charity. Also in the works is a limited-edition commemorative songbook.

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ole’s production music company, ole clear, has acquired LA based MusicBox and its catalog of 24,000-plus tracks. The deal includes ownership in the flagship libraries MusicBox and PromoBox and the rights to represent music tracks in 17 sub-published libraries across the United States. No staff changes are expected, and MusicBox will continue operations at 9157 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood.

Robert Ott, CEO ole clear says, “Joel Goodman and Daniel Stein have created a great company at MusicBox. We take seriously our responsibility to continue the legacy of great customer service and Creative at MusicBox and will work hard to bring clients and sub-published companies an unrivaled experience.”

Adds MusicBox Pres. Goodman, “All of us at MusicBox are excited at being part of the ole family. Through working with ole as our Canadian sub-publisher, we saw first-hand their commitment to music publishing and knew we had found the right partner to take MusicBox to the next level and beyond.”

This moves MusicBox to ole’s automated, cloud IT services for a better client tech experience.

ole clear is one of the world’s largest providers of 100% cleared production music in all media. clear is committed to quality and offers 150,000 tracks of music in all genres from renowned libraries.

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Bids for EMI Music Group came in lower than expected this month, according to the New York Times.

Cititgroup first put EMI on the auction block in June, after taking it over when Terra Firma didn’t meet its loan requirements.

EMI Music Group includes the publishing and recorded music divisions, which could be sold separately. In June the company as a whole was expected to draw as much as $4 billion.

The most recent round of bids brought higher offerings for the separate divisions than for the company as a whole.

For the recorded music division, bids have ranged from $1-1.3 billion reports NYT. Suitors include Warner Music Group (recently purchased by Russian investor Len Blavatnik), Universal Music Group, and Ronald Perelman’s holding company MacAndrews & Forbes.

EMI’s publishing unit has drawn offers of $1.75 – 2 billion from Sony and BMG Rights Management.