Downtown Music Publishing has entered into an exclusive worldwide administration agreement with the Estate of Anthony Newley. The deal includes several notable works from Newley's catalog including the Oscar-nominated original score for the 1963 dramatic musical production, "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory," with songs that have shaped popular culture such as "Pure Imagination," "The Candy Man," "Oompa Loompa," and "(I've Got A) Golden Ticket", penned alongside songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse.
After Prince's deal in April 2016, attention focused on the trove of unreleased material that he kept hidden in two storage vaults at Paisley Park, his studio complex outside Minneapolis. A conflict in Prince’s estate over a $31 million deal with Universal for music rights means that much of the vault may not see daylight for months or even years to come. And music industry lawyers say that copyright entanglements may complicate or even prohibit the release of more music.
Concord’s acquisition of Imagem Music Group, a publisher of significant classic rock, pop and contemporary compositions, heralds a golden age for music publishing transactions.
Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, best known for their time in The Turtles in which they recorded the hit song "Happy Together," have spent the past several years fighting a byzantine battle for the rights to get paid for their music being played by digital broadcasters, filing putative class actions in California, New York and Florida on behalf of artists with similar questions around their own catalogs. At issue is whether Volman and Kaylan, jointly represented in court under the name Flo & Eddie Inc. (which situates them as their own 'label' in the case), are due royalties from broadcasters for playing the music they recorded prior to 1972. In classic music industry fashion, the legalities at issue are kaleidoscopic in their complexity.
A decision from the UK High Court of Justice has ruled against Duran Duran over the band's attempt to reclaim, stateside, the publishing copyrights on over three dozen songs including some of their most well-known hits, "Hungry Like the Wolf." The ruling, however, may not amount to as much of a travesty for artists as it seems.
Primary Wave Music Publishing has acquired the rights to the writer's share of Motown legend Smokey Robinson's song catalogue song catalog as well as the rights for his name and likeness.
When performing a cyber threat assessment for any company, understanding who the potential attackers are, what their motives are, and the harm they are trying to inflict on a target are critical to creating resilient defenses. In the case of the entertainment industry, the company’s “crown jewels” that be subject to attack include intellectual property (IP) such as pre-release content or scripts; a broadcast feed; identifying information about customers and employees; sensitive e-mail; the ability to operate as a business by using computers; and, in some cases, credit card information.
Buddy Holly's widow has entrusted the publishing rights for the rock icon's influential catalog to BMG in a newly announced arrangement. This marks the first time since the singer's death in 1959 that someone other than Maria Elena Holly will be the custodian to Holly's song catalog and overall image.
