Publishing Catch-Up: Reservoir Nabs Young M.A, Peermusic UK Signs Foreign Affairs, Spirit Music Nashville Appoints New Creative Directors & More

We catch up on this week’s music publishing headlines, from key deals and signings to new hires, legislation and more.

Deals and Signings

Reservoir signs Young M.A to global publishing deal (MBW)
Reservoir has signed multi-Platinum rapper Young M.A to a worldwide publishing deal. The deal includes global rights to her entire catalog of works including her triple-Platinum single OOOUUU and recently released 21-track debut LP, Herstory In The Making.

Peermusic UK signs Americana duo Foreign Affairs (Music Week)
Peermusic UK has signed brothers Adam Purnell and Lawrence Purnell of Americana duo Foreign Affairs to an exclusive global publishing deal. “The entire team at Peermusic is excited to give Adam and Lawrence our full support. We are all fans of their music and we are thrilled to welcome them to the Peermusic family,” said Nigel Elderton, president, Europe & MD, Peermusic UK.

UMPG Nashville signs Brad Tursi to global co-publishing and catalog acquisition deal (MBW)
Tursi is a member of hugely popular country music band Old Dominion (RCA). He has written nine Country Airplay No.1 songs, including six of Old Dominion’s seven chart-topping hits: No Such Thing as a Broken Heart, Written in the Sand, Make It Sweet, and more.

Primary Wave Nabs Stake in Tommy Shaw’s Publishing Catalog & Master Royalties (Billboard)
Primary Wave is acquiring a stake in the music publishing catalog and master artist royalties of Tommy Shaw, the Styx frontman, singer-songwriter and guitar player who has also performed in groups Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades.

Teddy Geiger Extends Co-Publishing Deal With Big Deal Music Group & Family Affair Productions (Billboard)
Big Deal Music Group and Family Affair Productions have extended their global co-publishing deal with Teddy Geiger. “I’m so grateful to have everyone at Big Deal & Family Affair as partners in my career,” Geiger said in a statement.

Hirings and Promotions

Spirit Music Nashville Appoints Katie Flynn, Kara Jackson Creative Directors (MusicRow)
Katie Flynn and Kara Jackson have joined Spirit Music Nashville as Creative Directors. Both will report to Frank Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, Spirit Music Nashville.

Executive Turntable: Moves at The Syndicate, SESAC Nashville, We Are Hear & More (Billboard)
SESAC Nashville has promoted ET Brown and Lydia Schultz to senior director, creative services. Nanci Walker has joined We Are Hear and its partner peermusic as head of music publishing, film & TV, and R&R consultant, respectively.

Legal

Katy Perry Asks Judge to Throw Out $2.78 Million ‘Dark Horse’ Verdict (Billboard)
Lawyers for Perry have filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law, which means they claim the opposing party has insufficient evidence to support its case.

Interesting Reads

How music publishers can prepare for the Mechanical Licensing Collective Database (Tennessean)
Now that the U.S. Copyright Office has designated the NMPA, NSAI, and SONA-backed Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) to begin implementation of the Music Modernization Act (MMA), the time has come for the music publishing industry to get its act together regarding data.

Downtown to expand leadership team with appointment of Chief Revenue Officer (MBW)
Downtown Music Holdings, the parent company of Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust, is expanding its C-Suite positions and is looking to recruit a Chief Revenue Officer.

Billboard’s 2019 Latin Power Players List Revealed (Billboard)
UMPG’s Alexandra Lioutikoff and Sony/ATV’s Jorge Mejía and more publishing execs are included Billboard’s annual roster of influencers in a genre whose artists are storming the pop charts and shaping musical tastes around the globe.

Australian publishing income rises to all-time high; digital is the hero – again (Music Ally)
In Australia, APRA AMCOS has posted its strongest ever collections for the financial year 2018-2019. It reported net distributable revenues of Aus $410.9m ($279.3m) payable to songwriters, publishers and affiliated societies in the period, an increase of 13.2%.

PRS for Music harness MRT for usage detection in advertising (M Magazine)
Speaking at Music Week’s Tech Summit 2019 PRS for Music’s director of international, Sami Valkonen, revealed how MRT is being used in the lucrative area of advertising.

Will a convicted pedophile make a fortune from a ‘Joker’ song? (LA Times)
A representative for Universal’s publishing group stated: “Gary Glitter’s publishing interest in the copyright of his songs is owned by UMPG and other parties, therefore UMPG does not pay him any royalties or other considerations.”

New blockchain-based music streaming service Audius is a copyright nightmare (The Verge)
New startup Audius says its blockchain-based music streaming service is the solution that finally pays attention to indie artists’ needs. It’s also full of pirated material.

eOne Quarterly Loss Widens as Film, TV, Music Unit Revenue Drops (Billboard)
Entertainment One, the entertainment company that has agreed to be acquired by toy giant Hasbro for $4 billion, on Friday reported a widened quarterly loss as revenue in its film, TV and music unit dropped 7.6 percent.

Jobs

Junior Creative, Sync – BMG (London)
The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting BMG UK’s Sync team in all aspects of servicing their Creative partners, including music supervisors, TV broadcasters, production companies & advertising agencies.