BMG has fully acquired Benelux music publisher Talpa Music BV – whose catalogue includes songs from dance music giants Tiësto and Afrojack.
Talpa Music BV was founded in 2005 by respected Dutch music publisher Tony Berk alongside media entrepreneur John de Mol – the man responsible for TV shows Big Brother and Deal or No Deal through his Endemol production company, which he sold to Telefonica in 2000.
Talpa Music BV owns over 37,000 songs, includes huge names in the booming electronic dance music (EDM) genre, including Afrojack, Tiësto (pictured), Fedde Le Grand, Giorgio Tuinfort (a.o. co- writer/producer David Guetta), Fabian Lenssen, Laidback Luke, Nicky Romero, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Bakermat, Glowinthedark, Quintino and Brennan Heart, and further administers over 500,000 songs in total.
The company also represents the publishing interests of dance labels such as Protocol Recordings, Mixmash Records, Be Yourself Music, Black Hole Recordings and Hard With Style.
Following the acquisition, BMG will merge its operations in the Netherlands with Talpa Music and will trade under the name BMG Talpa Music.
Tony Berk, current Talpa Music President, BMG Benelux Managing Director Frank Bruens and Pieter van Bodegraven, Talpa Music Vice-President, will continue to play an active role in the joint company.
BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said, “This is a very significant acquisition of one of Europe’s leading music publishers. At one stroke it not only further builds our position in the Benelux, making us the leading publisher of local repertoire, it gives us access to leading international songwriters, particularly in the EDM category.”
Tony Berk added, “The new company BMG Talpa Music will be a great force in our exciting and constantly evolving music publishing industry, with its internationalization of copyright exploitation and the changes of collection of its various income streams from all kind of existing sales and usages, as well as from new great online media opportunities. I am sure BMG will be a perfect umbrella for our catalogues and will add great value to our international activities.“
Talpa Music’s writers and producers have written songs for many international performing artists including David Guetta, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Pitbull, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Will.i.am, Chris Brown, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Akon and Usher.Music Business Worldwide
