Pub Briefs: Nelly Signs With SONGS Music, Warner/Chappell Inks With THIS Music, The Who Get Into Apparel Biz, More

Ed Christman
·4 min read

— SONGS Music Publishing signed Nelly to a worldwide co-publishing deal, beginning with his most recent album, 5.0, and future releases, including his next album M.O., which is slated to come out later this year.

“Nelly has proven time and time again that he is one of the most consistent hit makers in contemporary music,” said SONGS’ President and head of A&R Ron Perry, who signed Nelly. “He’s a rare artist who has been able to thrive across all genres and radio formats, working with artists who span the musical spectrum, from Tim McGraw to Janet Jackson to Florida Georgia Line.”

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— CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, is gearing up for its World Creators Summit, which will be held in Washington, D.C. June 4-5, by naming keynoters Maria Pallante, the U.S. Register of Copyrights; John Morton, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Scott Turow, best-selling author, lawyer, and president of The Authors’ Guild; Hervé Di Rosa, a visual artist and acting president of CISAC; and Jean-Michel Jarre, a composer, music producer and nominee for CISAC presidency.

Pallante will talk about her copyright overhaul plan, its likely implications for creators and creative businesses, and the long-term goals shaping her policies, while Morton will look at anti-piracy policies, including the specific strategies put in place by the U.S. administration to identify, track and take down organizations and individuals involved in the trading of illegal content.

For more details about the event, visit www.creatorssummit.com

— Imagem Music USA has signed a worldwide, multi-year co-publishing agreement with singer/songwriter Josh Doyle, marking the first signing of the joint venture between John Shanks and Imagem Music.

— Lyric Culture has collaborated with The Who on an exclusive men’s collection of Apparel for Bloomingdales, which is supposed to debut in-store this month.

The Who Collection of print t-shirts and hoodies will be housed in custom designed Lyric Culture shops at select Bloomingdale’s stores. The designs feature album imagery and lyrics to some of the band’s biggest hits on apparel that will carry prices ranging from $48-$98.

According to the company, the collection was made possible through a partnership with Spirit Music Group, the publisher of Pete Townshend’s lyrics.

“We’re extremely excited to be collaborating with… Lyric Culture to produce the first ever-merchandise line inspired by the lyrics of Pete Townshend and The Who,” Spirit Music Group CEO Mark Fried said in a statement. “While The Who’s decades of envelope-pushing recordings and incendiary live performances are legendary, we believe we’re opening a new window into Pete Townshend’s creative process with this artfully crafted apparel line.

— Warner/Chappell Music has extended its worldwide co-publishing partnership with leading Nashville-based music publishing company, THiS Music, which was formed in 2006 by GM Rusty Gaston and songwriters Tim Nichols and Connie Harrington, and launched in partnership with Warner/Chappell Music.
 
“THiS Music is a renowned Nashville brand known for top shelf hit songs, and extraordinary songwriters who are helped to achieve their best by Rusty and his team,” Warner/Chappell executive VP Ben Vaughn, Executive Vice President said in a statement.
 
“We are blessed and thrilled with how far THiS Music has come in building a hands-on boutique environment for some of today’s best songwriters,” said Gaston. “Warner/Chappell Music has been a rock solid partner over the course of the past seven years, and together our teams have helped to create hit singles and influential country music that we are extremely proud of. Extending our arrangement with Warner/Chappell was an easy decision and we look forward to continue working with them.”

Artists who have record Nichols’ songs include Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Keith Whitley, Brad Paisley, Lee Ann Womack, Patty Loveless, Gretchen Wilson, Joe Nichols, Phil Vassar, Clint Black, and Kenny Rogers. Other songwriters on the THiS Music roster include Ben Hayslip, Connie Harrington, Marv Green, Deric Ruttan, Troy Olsen, Molly Reed, Jeff Outlaw and Michael Thomas & Drew Baldridge.

— Kobalt Neighbouring Rights Ltd. has signed an exclusive agreement with composer Dave Stewart to manage his neighbouring rights. KNRL will immediately represent in the U.S. Stewart’s entire repertoire, including all of his performances on master recordings, including Eurythmics, to find and have released the monies due to him from the respective neighbouring rights societies throughout the world, according to the announcement. Beginning in October 2013, KNRL will additionally assume representation for Stewart, who is a publishing client at Kobalt Music Group, for the rest of the world.

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