IT'S ONLY WORDS
SONY BMG TO FORM MUSIC PUBLISHING ARM
By BRIAN GARRITY
March 11, 2008 -- Sony and Bertelsmann are close to a deal that could allow their Sony BMG recorded music joint venture to start signing acts to music publishing contracts, sources familiar with the situation said.
As part of the proposed pact, Sony ATV Music Publishing - Sony's separate publishing arm headed by Chairman/CEO Martin Bandier - will administer copyrights from songwriters and producers signed to Sony BMG, sources said.
Sony BMG CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz has made no secret of his desire to start a new publishing division within the company, home to Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Justin Timberlake. The joint venture is the only music label to not have its own dedicated music publishing arm.
Financial specifics of the deal are still being negotiated. A finalized agreement could come as soon as next month, sources said.
Some of Sony BMG's labels are already talking with songwriters and producers about potential publishing deals in anticipation of the agreement's pending completion, sources familiar with the situation said.
Sony BMG did not return requests for comment. Sony ATV declined comment.
Bertelsmann last year sold its separate music publishing arm, BMG Music Publishing, to Universal Music Group for $2 billion.
BMG COO Charles Goldstuck, who began his career as a publishing executive with Warner Music Group's Warner/Chappell, hinted in a Q&A last week at Billboard's Music & Money conference here that a move into publishing is "imminent."
"You can expect that will be an important part of our business," he said. "The up-and-coming writer/producer community has to be fully intertwined with our artist community."
However Goldstuck was quick to caution that the company's focus won't be on big expensive catalogs of older songs that have been selling for hundreds of millions of dollars.
"It's not about us building a catalog," he said. "That, we leave to the majors who do that much better than we ever could."
Exploitation of publishing rights in film and television, video games, ringtones and other digital products has become a valuable source of income for music companies at a time when traditional CD sales are on the decline.
For pop and hip-hop acts, publishing deals also are increasingly viewed as key to getting access to the best material when it comes to beats and songs.
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