Independent and private equity-backed US publisher Spirit Music Group has entered into a joint venture with songwriter, producer, soundtrack and record producer T Bone Burnett.
The company has also entered into an exclusive publishing agreement for the T Bone Burnett song catalogue for North America.
The joint venture agreement will see T Bone Burnett signing and developing songwriters and artists for Spirit Music Group.
Spirit Music Group will handle creative song promotion, synch, licensing, and administration services on a global basis.
Spirit will also administer all of T Bone’s extensive catalogue as well as future works.
David Renzer, Chairman, Spirit Music Group said: “We have a huge amount of respect for T Bone’s creative prowess. With T Bone’s creative vision combined with Spirit’s song marketing/ publishing expertise, our ability to find and nurture exciting talent is something the entire team is excited about.
“We are proud to work with T Bone, his prolific catalog of songs, and look forward to developing the best new talent through this partnership.”
T Bone Burnett commented: “I am happy to have David Renzer and his killer team at Spirit as allies as we go about discovering and, hopefully, affecting what the business of music looks like in the 21st Century.”
“We have a huge amount of respect for t Bone’s creative prowess.”
David Rezner, Spirit Music Group (pictured)
T Bone Burnett has worked on best-selling albums from Elton John, Elvis Costello, Tony Bennett, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Leon Russell, Counting Crows, Diana Krall and Los Lobos.
He is a 13-time Grammy winner, earning his latest – along with collaborators Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars’ Joy Williams and John Paul White – for “Safe And Sound” from the film, The Hunger Games.
Burnett was also Executive Music Producer of the blockbuster movie, producing its companion album which entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart at #1 and was certified Gold within mere weeks of its release.
He earned numerous Grammys — including Album of the Year and Record of the Year — for his production work on Raising Sand, the worldwide smash album from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
Burnett previously earned five Grammys for his work on the eight-times Platinum release, O Brother Where Art Thou?
Further Grammys followed for his work on the platinum soundtrack to the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk The Line, and the platinum Tony Bennett / k.d. lang duets album, A Wonderful World.
In addition, Burnett is the Executive Music Producer and Composer for the HBO series True Detective, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. He was Executive Music Producer and Co-Composer for the first season of the highly-acclaimed ABC television series, Nashville. That show spawned two best-selling soundtrack albums as well as millions of individual song downloads.
He has served as Executive Music Producer on numerous films, including Across The Universe, Walk The Line (for which he also composed its score) and The Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
Burnett has recently worked on several album projects including Bob Dylan’s The Basement Tapes and Betty Buckley’s Ghostlight album. He is currently working on the debut album from Rhiannon Giddens.
Spirit Music Group owns and/or manages more than 75,000 songs spanning seven decades.
The company’s repertoire includes hits by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Charles Mingus, Dion, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Santana, The Beach Boys, Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Alice Cooper, Pure Prairie League, Chicago, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, The Go-Go’s, Madonna, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Ricky Martin, Keith Urban, Usher, Dido, Jewel, Jason Aldean and Mary J. Blige.
Spirit Music Group is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Los Angeles, Nashville and the Netherlands.
It is a portfolio company of Pegasus Capital Advisors, the New York-based private equity fund manager that has been providing creative capital and strategic solutions to growth companies since 1996Music Business Worldwide
