Warner Chappell: Last News

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Warner Chappell Music has renewed its global publishing deal with producer Marco “MAG” Borrero. A frequent Bad Bunny collaborator, MAG produced 15 of the 23 tracks on the blockbuster album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which led to his 2022 Variety Hitmakers honor and his No. 1 position on Billboard’s Year-End Hot Latin Song Producers chart. “Un Verano Sin Ti” became the first all-Spanish album to top the year-end Billboard 200 chart as well as earn a nomination for Album of the Year Grammy award. The Brooklyn-born, Puerto Rican-Dominican producer was mentored by Max Martin — the most successful songwriter-producer of the past 25 years — and over the course of his career has also collaborated with Rauw Alejandro, Arcángel, Bebe Rexha, Imagine Dragons, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato.

Lily Moayeri When it comes to music festivals, becoming a brand name is paramount to long-term success. Consider the dozens taking place concurrently during the spring and summer months. Unless you’re a Coachella or Lollapalooza, building brand equity over decades years of shows — so that ticket-buyers don’t even necessarily need to know the lineup before committing their hard-earned dollars — how do you stand out from the crowd? The name Ultra, for instance, is synonymous with dance music — the annual festival takes place this weekend in Miami and is expected to draw upwards of 160,000 people. Founded in 1999, and named after the Depeche Mode album “Ultra,” it’s not the only dance music entity using the name, however, which has resulted in confusion in the music space and a tangled legal web for entrepreneur Patrick Moxey.

DEALSPeermusic has signed The Reytons – who are currently at number one in the UK album chart – to a worldwide publishing deal, via its joint venture with Max Music Publishing. “I am delighted to see a great independent band, on an indie label and published by an independent publisher, reach the top of the UK album charts”, says MD of Peermusic UK Nigel Elderton. “Congratulations to the entire team who have worked so hard to make this possible, including our partners at Max Music”.Warner Chappell has signed German rapper Shirin David to a worldwide publishing deal.

DEALSLitmus Music – yet another equity fund buying up music rights – has acquired the recording rights of Keith Urban. “I have the deepest respect for Keith, his incredible talent and his passion for making great music”, says Litmus co-founder Dan McCarroll. “He’s a musically insatiable musician, record maker, performer and songwriter”.Downtown Music Services has signed up Colbie Caillat, Francis Karel, Lily Meola, Loren Gray, Rebecca Black and Yung Bae to it artist services offerings, including distribution, publishing administration, creative marketing and finance.

Warner Chappell has signed one of those lovely worldwide publishing deals with the current iteration of Leftfield, that being founder member Neil Barnes alongside Adam Wren.The deal has been confirmed just ahead of the release tomorrow of the fourth Leftfield album, ‘This Is What We Do’. It covers Barnes’ share of the outfit’s catalogue – including the two albums made in the 1990s with Paul Daley, ‘Leftism’ and ‘Rhythm And Stealth’ – plus future output.Says Barnes: “I’m so excited about the release of ‘This Is What We Do’.

Warner Chappell has signed songwriter Amy Allen, who has penned hits for the likes of Harry Styles, Halsey and Lizzo.Warner Chappell Music President North America, Ryan Press, says: “Amy has made a name for herself in pop music, helping to pen many of the genre’s biggest hits. Her recent Grammy nomination for the first ever Songwriter Of The Year Award is a huge, once in a lifetime opportunity and an incredible moment for her.

Warner Chappell has signed a new publishing deal with Scissor Sisters covering the on hiatus band’s songs and principle songwriters, Jake Shears and Scott ‘Baby Daddy’ Hoffman.“Baby Daddy and I are really proud of all the music we’ve created together and couldn’t be happier to have Warner Chappell Music looking after our songs going forward”, says Shears. “The worldwide team have some really awesome and ambitious ideas of how they’ll reinvigorate our catalogue and we can’t wait to see what they do”.Baby Daddy adds: “The Scissor Sisters songs still connect with so many fans all over the world, and we’re so excited to have found a home with the worldwide acclaim of Warner Chappell Music.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Days after top YouTube exec Robert Kyncl was named as the next CEO of Warner Music Group, the company revealed in an SEC filing that he will earn approximately $15 million in his first year on the job, depending on performance targets. When Kyncl’s name was first mentioned as a potential successor to outgoing CEO Stephen Cooper, who leaves after 11 years in the role, many wondered whether the job would be sufficiently appealing for the executive who led Netflix from DVDs to streaming and has been YouTube’s business chief for much of his 12 years at the company. However, the SEC filing makes clear that the job is financially appealing: He will receive a base salary of $2 million, a target performance-based bonus of $3 million and an annual grant of performance share units with an aggregate, pre-tax value of $10 million.

DEALSLondon’s Wembley Arena has been sold by previous owner Quintain to the Intermediate Capital Group for an undisclosed sum. But it will still be operated by ASM Global and sponsored by OVO Energy, so you probably won’t notice.Warner Chappell has signed pop singer-songwriter Lauren Spencer Smith to a global publishing deal.

James Bourne off of Busted fame has signed a new worldwide publishing deal with Warner Chappell covering both his existing catalogue and future works.Although best known for his musical output with the legendary Son Of Dork, surely, or – OK – maybe Busted, Bourne has also written plenty of songs for other artists, including 5 Seconds Of Summer, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Jonas Brothers, McFly, Pixie Lott, The Saturdays and The VampsConfirming the new deal, Warner Chappell Creative Manager Emily Foreman says: “James has been writing great pop and rock songs for almost 20 years now. He enjoyed incredible success in the early 2000s, but the last two Busted records, as well as his recent solo material, have shown how much he’s developed and evolved as a songwriter.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSnap has announced the Snapchat Sounds Creator Fund: Its first fund designed to support emerging and independent artists who distribute their music on the app via DistroKid.Starting in August, Snap will provide monthly grants of up to $100,000 to artists who are distributing music on Snapchat via DistroKid. The program is currently capped at 20 songs; Snap says it will provide grants of $5,000 per song to artists, based on the level of engagement Snapchat users have with the music.Currently, musicians who are signed with Snap’s music label and publisher partners — which include Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Merlin, Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell and Kobalt — monetize their content through those agreements.

Belgian artist Stromae has signed a big old deal with Warner Chappell which will now provide music publishing admin services to the company that manages all his projects and rights, Mosaert.As well as overseeing Stromae’s own musical output, Brussels-based Mosaert is also involved in music video production, having worked with the likes of Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa, and even has its own fashion line.Confirming the deal, Warner Chappell CEO Guy Moot says: “Stromae has consistently been one of the most exciting Francophone artists over the last fifteen years. His innovative approach has always put a stylistic vision at the heart of how he presents himself, and that’s helped him influence and shape wider culture.

DEALSWarner Chappell and comedian Kevin Hart’s media company Hartbeat have signed a deal that will see the former administer the latter’s music publishing rights. “Hartbeat is THRILLED to partner with leading global publisher Warner Chappell Music to develop and build out a first-of-its-kind Hartbeat music library”, says the media firm’s President Jeff Clanagan.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Chappell Music and Kevin Hart’s global multi-platform media company, Hartbeat, have announced an exclusive music publishing partnership. Under the deal – a first of its kind for Hartbeat – WCM will administer all of Hartbeat’s music composition copyrights, covering future programming as well as past works from shows like “Die Hart” and “Hart to Heart.”WCM will also help build the company’s music catalog across Hartbeat Studios, Hartbeat Media and Pulse, in addition to providing creative support for a variety of music projects, and access to its songwriting talent and award-winning production music library.WCM senior VP of creative services Ashley Winton said: “This deal was made possible with the support of our Co-Chairs Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall, and we’re all very proud that Hartbeat is entrusting us as their first publishing partner.

Justin Timberlake has sold his song catalogue to Hipgnosis Song Management, in a deal that gives the company all the rights to the artist’s previously released music.Hipgnosis Song Management have bought 100 per cent of Timberlake’s rights, including to tracks like ‘SexyBack’, ‘Rock Your Body’, and ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’. The deal pertains to Timberlake’s publishing rights but not his recording rights, which means songs that he either wrote or co-wrote.As he wasn’t a songwriter on some of NSYNC’s best-known hits such as ‘Bye Bye Bye’ and ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’, these are not included in the sale but the majority of his solo work will be included.

Warner Chappell has signed a worldwide publishing deal with singer-songwriter Natanael Cano, best known for his 2019 collaboration with Bad Bunny, ‘Soy El Diablo (Remix)’.“Nata is a unique talent, who at such a young age, has already secured his legacy in the industry”, says Warner Chappell’s President for the US, Latin and Latin America, Gustavo Menéndez. “He has an incredible delivery with an uncanny penmanship as a songwriter, no matter the genre.

APPOINTMENTSWarner Chappell has hired Peter Rosenthal in the newly created role of EVP Global Head Of Legal And Business Affairs. He joins from Downtown Music Holdings, where he was General Counsel. “I’m very excited to be joining Warner Chappell at such a pivotal time in its evolution and for our industry at large”, he says.———————————————RELEASESTrent Reznor has reworked Danny Elfman’s ‘Native Intelligence’.Coi Leray has engaged the services of Nicki Minaj for new single ‘Blick Blick’.James Blunt and Jason Zhang have teamed up for a new version of Blunt’s song ‘Adrenaline’.Are you a friend of King Princess? Well, I have a song for you.

DEALSConcord Music Publishing has signed songwriter and producer Fred Ball to a worldwide publishing agreement. “I’m delighted to be part of Concord’s roster”, he says.

George Michael has ordered Tory Lanez to cease distribution of his track ‘Enchanted Waterfall’, which they say features an uncleared ‘Careless Whisper’ sample.According to a report from Variety, the late Wham! singer’s estate declined a request from Lanez for permission to use the track in mid-2021.They wrote in a statement: “It was brought to our attention that the song ‘Enchanted Waterfall’: by the artist Tory Lanez incorporated an unauthorised sample of ‘Careless Whisper’ written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley… requested permission for this use had been declined in June 2021 so we took immediate action on behalf of the writers, in collaboration with our publishers Warner Chappell Music, to prevent further exploitation as we will not tolerate any unauthorized use of any songs within the catalogues of George Michael and/or Andrew Ridgeley.As Stereogum point out, ‘Enchanted Waterfall’ has since been removed from Spotify but remains available on YouTube and Apple Music at the time of writing.Last year, Madonna also accused Tory Lanez of “illegal usage” of her 1985 single ‘Into The Groove’, which was sampled on his new track ‘Pluto’s Last Comet’.The song appears on Lanez’s recent sixth album, ‘Alone At Prom’, which is heavily inspired by the pop greats of the ‘80s.It would appear that Lanez sampled the lead synth melody behind ‘Into The Groove’ – written for the soundtrack of the ’85 comedy-drama Desperately Seeking Susan, which Madonna starred in – but didn’t credit the iconic popstar.In response, Madonna commented on a recent post of Lanez’s on Instagram, writing: “Read your messages tor [sic] illegal usage of my song get into the groove!”in a statement given to Rolling Stone, Madonna added: “I am tired of being

DEALSWarner Chappell and film production company Unigram have jointly signed a worldwide publishing deal with singer-songwriter Scott McFarnon. “Scott is a brilliant songwriter, he’s written for top artists and is enjoying success writing original scores for movies”, says Warner Chappell’s UK Head Of A&R Amber Davis.