Downtown Music Publishing moves into country and musical theatre music publishing with the signing of Dave Berg and the songwriting duo of Joe DiPietro and Dave Bryan, who is also the keyboard player for Bon Jovi.
Berg, who has received multiple songwriting awards, most recently contributed to to Carrie Underwood’s Blown Away and the forthcoming Kenny Chesney album. Other artists who have recorded Berg’s songs include the likes of Blake Shelton, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban, Trisha Yearwood, Gretchen Wilson, and Jewel.
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Meanwhile, DiPietro and Bryan are best known for writing the Tony Award winning musical, “Memphis.” DiPietro has authored numerous plays, including “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change;” the 2002 adaptation of “Babes in Arms”; the 2005 musical “All Shook Up,” and the recently opened “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”
Publishing Briefs: Imagem Partners With Cutcraft, YouTube Signs Up More Publishers
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pigFACTORY Music, has just signed Tesla to an international publishing administration and synch representation deal. The publishing administration component of the deal covers all songs that Tesla has written while the synchronization licensing aspect covers Tesla songs from the band’s later recordings.
“Tesla continues to put out great songs and relentlessly tours for its loyal fan base,” pigFACTORY Music CEO Keatly Haldeman said in a statement. “We are excited to expose Tesla’s new music to the TV/film/advertising community and to shine a spotlight on their hits such as ‘Love Song.'”
The indie publisher’s roster also includes recordings and songs performed by artists such as Jordin Sparks, Demi Lovato, Fatboy Slim, Iggy Pop, and Meatloaf.
BMG Rights Management has been busy signing songwriting deals in the last month as its Italy operation concluded an exclusive songwriting agreement with Samuele Bersani, while its BMG Chrysalis Scandinavia signed that country’s well known rock singer, Joakim Thåström — known simply as Thåström, and BMG Chrysalis U.S. has signed an exclusive worldwide co-publishing deal with Bangladesh, the Atlanta-based hip-hop producer.
As part of the Bersani deal, BMG has acquired the rights to his two most recent albums, L’Aldiqua and Manifesto Abusivo, together with future works from his publishing company, Fuori Classifica.
BMG now represents Samuele Bersani’s full catalogue, having already served as publisher for the singer-songwriter’s albums Ci hanno preso tutto, Freak, Samuele Bersani, L’oroscopo speciale and Caramella Smog.
The signing of Bersani is part of BMG’s planned expansion in Italy and comes shortly after the acquisition of Dreyfus Music, one of France’s most important independent music catalogues.
BMG Rights Management Acquires Francis Dreyfus Music
According to the announcement for the Thåström deal, his agreement represents the first time he has signed a publishing deal in his 30-year career. Until now Thåström’s copyrights have been unavailable for TV and film synch since there was no publishing infrastructure to handle them, the announcement notes.
The signing of Thåström, who started out in the punk band Ebba Grön and subsequently broaded his musical scope, comes just weeks after BMG appointed seasoned music executive Sanken Sanqvist to expand its operations in Scandinanvia. “It is a huge honor that Thåström, a legendary artist who effectively wrote the soundtrack for modern Sweden has chosen BMG for his first partnership with a music publisher,” Sanqvist said in a statement.
Thåström lat album was entitled, Beväpna dig med vingar and his last tour has been filmed for a DVD, which is scheduled for release in October 2012.
In the U.S., BMG Chrysalis North America president of creative and marketing Laurent Hubert said in a statement that Bangladesh is “the producer of choice for many of today’s most successful hip hop and R&B acts.”
Among the artist he has worked with are Lil’ Wayne, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Nick Minaj, R. Kelly, Nelly and Chris Brown.
Bangladesh’s current projects include a newly-released single with Brandy, “Put It Down” featuring Chris Brown.
Bangladesh’s “range transcends any one genre and we truly believe he is just beginning to scratch the surface of global pop music… there is no way that we would have passed up the chance to be a part of his new creative team,” said BMG Chrysalis North America’s Venus Brown.