Major news in the global publishing world: Concord Bicycle Music has fully acquired Imagem Music Group for an undisclosed fee.
Imagem Music Group’s music assets total more than 250,000 copyrights. The landmark agreement brings Concord Bicycle Music’s combined publishing catalogue to 380,000 copyrighted works.
Scott Pascucci, CEO, Concord Bicycle Music observed: “Steve Smith, Jake Wisely and I congratulate André de Raaff and Denis Wigman on a decade’s success building the Imagem portfolio to its extraordinary substance and scale.
“These are precious copyrights – they represent some of the best music ever created and we are proud to have an opportunity to represent them to the world. Our team looks forward to working with everyone at Imagem Music, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Boosey & Hawkes, as we usher in the next phase of Concord Bicycle Music’s development into an industry leading, full-service music company.”
André de Raaff, CEO, Imagem Music Group said: “I want to thank the Dutch pension fund ABP for believing and supporting us in creating such a successful and leading worldwide music publishing company in the shortest time ever in history.
“Concord Bicycle, being a true independent, is a wonderful new home for Imagem under the leadership of Scott, Steve and Jake.”
André de Raaff, Imagem Music Group
“Winning Grammys for Record of the Year with Daft Punk and Mark Ronson, Tony Awards for revivals of our musicals South Pacific and The King and I, and the continuing success of The Sound of Music, securing the rights of a long lost work by Stravinsky last year and immediately licensing 100+ performances, and the upcoming centennial of Leonard Bernstein with over 1,000 events already announced, are just a few of the countless successes we have enjoyed over the years.
“The biggest thanks to all composers and catalogue owners who committed to us and experienced the great people working for Imagem and ‘making the difference’. I think that Concord Bicycle, being a true independent, is a wonderful new home for Imagem under the leadership of Scott, Steve and Jake.”
The transaction team leader for Concord Bicycle Music was Chief Business Development Officer Steven Salm. Concord Bicycle Music was advised by Lisbeth R. Barron and Barron International Group, LLC and Reed Smith LLP. Imagem was advised by David Dunn and Robert Law of Shot Tower Capital and Venable LLP.
Imagem Music Group is comprised of three distinct business units: Rodgers & Hammerstein (theatrical), Imagem Music (pop), and Boosey & Hawkes (classical) with offices in London, Berlin and New York.
Rodgers & Hammerstein, founded in 1943, controls 5,000 copyrights that include works like The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, The King and I, Carousel and South Pacific. The company also represents iconic composers such as Irving Berlin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Schwartz, Rodgers & Hart, and Kern & Hammerstein.
Created in 2008, Imagem Music controls a catalogue of 175,000 copyrights, featuring songs written by Phil Collins and Genesis, Daft Punk, Pink Floyd, Mark Ronson (pictured), Linkin Park, Sammy Cahn, Iron Maiden, Chet Faker, M.I.A., R. Kelly, Billy Ocean, Will Smith, Steve Miller, Cathy Dennis, Lionel Richie, Kaiser Chiefs, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Revivalists and Oh Wonder, among many others.
Controlling 74,000 copyrights, Boosey & Hawkes, founded in 1930, is the largest specialist classical publisher in the world. Its catalogue includes composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten, Sergei Prokofieff, Richard Strauss, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
