www.musicweek.com PUBLISHING SPECIAL NEWS EX-EMI EXEC NAMED MD, AVALON DISTRIBUTION ON BOARD AS FIRST MAJOR CLIENT


Imagem launches TV and film JV with Channon I


PUBLISHING  BY TINA HART


magem has launched TV and film joint venture FTV with former EMI Music Publishing


EVP Jonathan Channon as managing director. The new company will be based at Imagem’s London offices. FTV will represent the music publishing assets of broadcasters, production companies and other media entities. It will offer a suite of services engineered to add value to music intellectual property through commissioning and producing bespoke music and production music with sync exploitation of both, utilising the global network of Imagem offices and sub agents.


One of the initial deals to be


brokered under the FTV name is a global partnership with British independent international distribution company Avalon Distribution. Avalon represents leading television production companies including Avalon


Television, Flame TV, Topical Television, Tinderbox Television and Liberty Bell Productions. The agreement will see the publisher manage and exploit Avalon’s library of owned composed music and collect royalties on behalf of all Avalon


Distribution clients. In Channon’s most recent


role at EMI, he signed and worked with a range of media companies including ITV, 20th Century Fox, Endemol, Hit Entertainment and Shine TV. One of his early ventures at


Wixen reaps benefit from timely Rod Stewart cut


Wixen Music UK perfectly timed an administration deal for the Verse Music Group catalogue as it featured Kevin Savigar - the key collaborator on Rod Stewart’s chart-topping Time. The London-born songwriter,


musician and producer has been involved in Stewart’s career since the late Seventies when he joined his touring and recording band, and went on to co-write a number of songs with him, including Every Beat Of My Heart, Forever Young, Passion, Tonight I’m Yours and Young Turks. Stewart’s full return to songwriting


after a gap of around two decades has fully utilised LA-based Savigar’s talents, giving Wixen, via its Verse deal, interests in six of the 12 songs on Time, including the lead- off single It’s Over. Savigar also co-produced the Capitol/Decca album, which debuted at No.1 in the UK in May and last Sunday spent its 11th consecutive week in the Top 10 with cumulative sales now around 300,000 units. Besides Savigar’s songs, the Verse


Music Group tie-up gives Wixen access to


EMI also included the successful packaging of the music deal on Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. John Minch, CEO Imagem Music UK said: “Jonathan is at the forefront of music and media. He has made producers, broadcasters and film studios


understand the value of music and IP ownership. Our new joint venture will look to broaden our business in this significant area and we are delighted to announce our partnership with Avalon.” Channon (pictured)


commented: “Imagem is a company that I have really admired over the last few years. The music industry has been in perpetual flux but as a modern business, Imagem demonstrates that progressive thinking puts you at the top of your game. “Imagem is a gentle giant;


artist friendly and creative, but packs a punch. There is no better publisher to be in partnership with. We’re excited to be working with Avalon and to build a significant music asset with them.” Jon Thoday, joint MD of


Avalon Distribution, added: “We are all incredibly pleased to be working with Jonathan Channon and the rest of the team at Imagem.”


SPZ’s Perfect plans for publishing arm


Publishing company Perfect Songs is parent company SPZ’s “biggest focus”, according to MD Ally Horn, after it enjoyed “an exciting summer”. Writer Will Heard was featured on the


around 10,000 songs, including works recorded by artists as varied as Jennifer Lopez, Engelbert Humperdinck, Snoop Dogg and the Pointer Sisters. Independent Verse was formed in 2010 and has since acquired music publishing and master copyrights, writer royalty streams and other assets. These include Salsoul Records and West End Records. Wixen UK MD Beth Wijayarathna said the timing of the deal, with the success of Stewart’s album, had been great, adding: “It’s exciting getting more familiar with the works included in this catalogue.”


big European hit Sonnentanz (Sun Don’t Shine) by Austrian act Klangkarussell, while signings Fear of Tigers and Anita Blay (formerly Cocknbullkid) co-penned the new single Trouble from RCA girl band Neon Jungle plus a second single from Sam and the Womp whose line-up features Aaron Horn. In a sector where much of the market


has consolidated, including Sony/ATV and EMI coming together and BMG’s many purchases, Horn said: “We’ve only got 14 writers on our roster and we want to stay that way. “The services we provide to our writers


are very different from the kind of services you get at BMG or Sony or anywhere like that. Most of the writers are based in our building; quite a few of them are unmanaged. Because we are quite a creative-


heavy team and we don’t have many writers, we have much more time to spend on them.” Perfect Songs - which


exclusively controlled two UK No.1 singles last year with Sam and the Womp’s Bom Bom and Gabrielle Aplin’s cover of The Power Of Love - last year signed a new deal with Seal more than two decades after Trevor Horn produced his self-titled first album. “We’ve put him together with a lot of


different writers,” said Horn. “He’s written with some people on our roster, but we’ve also been collaborating.” According to SPZ founder Trevor


Horn, Seal’s collaborations include “a lovely song” he has written with Sony/ATV’s Justin Parker, who co-wrote Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko’s Stay and a number of tracks on Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die album.


02.08.13 MusicWeek 17


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