Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Music |
Predecessor | Chappell & Co. |
Founded | 1987 |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Guy Moot (CEO, co-chair) Carianne Marshall (COO, co-chair) [1] |
Services | Music publishing |
Parent | Warner Music Group |
Divisions | Warner Chappell Production Music |
Website | warnerchappell.com |
Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalog consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 150,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries. [2]
The company, founded in 1811 as Chappell & Co., was a British music publishing company and instrument shop in Bond Street, London, that specialised in piano manufacturing. [3] In 1929, Warner Bros. acquired M. Witmark & Sons, Remick Music Corporation and Harms, Inc. [4] Tamerlane Music was acquired in 1969. [5]
Warner Chappell Music was formed in San Antonio, Texas, in 1987, when Warner Music Group Chairman Chuck Kaye led the company to purchase Chappell & Co. from PolyGram (now Universal Music Group) (UMG). [6] In 1988, Warner-Chappell acquired Birch Tree Group (formerly Summy Birchard), [7] publisher of Happy Birthday to You , and the Frances Clark piano method books. [8] [9] In 1990, Warner Chappell acquired Mighty Three Music, the publishing company of Thom Bell and Gamble and Huff. [10] The same year, Warner Chappell acquired the Canadian music publisher Gordon V. Thompson Music. [11]
In 1994, Warner Bros. Publications expanded its print music operations by acquiring CPP/Belwin. CPP/Belwin had been the former print music arm of Columbia Pictures. [12]
In 2005, Warner Chappell Music sold most of its printed music division, Warner Bros. Publications, to Alfred Publishing, [13] and in 2006 launched the Pan European Digital Licensing (P.E.D.L.) initiative. In 2007, when Radiohead released In Rainbows through its website on a pay-what-you-wish model, Warner Chappell Music created a streamlined, one-of-a-kind licensing process for the songs on the album [14] that allowed rights users around the world to secure use of the music from a single location. [15]
In 2006, David H. Johnson was elevated to interim CEO and then in 2007 to Chairman & CEO of the company. [16]
In November 2006, Disney Music Publishing and Warner Chappell agreed to a licensing agreement for Europe and South America major markets. [17]
In 2007, the company acquired Non-Stop Music. [18] Additionally, in 2010 it acquired 615 Music, a Nashville-based production music company, [19] and subsequently united all the production music companies under the name Warner Chappell Production Music in 2012. [20] In 2011, it acquired Southside Independent Music Publishing, whose songwriters included Bruno Mars, Brody Brown, and J.R. Rotem. [21] In July 2012, Warner/Chappell purchased the music rights of the film studio Miramax Films. [22]
It was ranked in 2010 by Music & Copyright as the world's third-largest music publisher. [23] Among the songs in the company's library are "Winter Wonderland" and formerly "Happy Birthday to You" until the copyright of the song was invalidated in 2015 and put in the public domain the next year. [24]
In January 2011, Cameron Strang, founder of New West Records and Southside Independent Music Publishing, was named CEO of Warner Chappell Music. [25] He was succeeded by former company president Jon Platt in 2016. [26]
Warner Chappell acquired Frank Gari's studio in 2015, adding to its production music library some of the most well-known television news music themes including those for local stations owned by ABC, CBS, and NBC. [27]
On June 30, 2017, Warner Chappell Music filed a lawsuit against EMI Music Publishing, accusing the latter company of underpaying Warner Music for the royalties of the 20th Century Fox catalogue, which Warner acquired in 1982, as well as the rights to Curtis Mayfield and Kool and the Gang. This controversy arises from EMI's acquisition of Robbins and Feist in the early 1990s. [28]
On January 9, 2019, Guy Moot was named CEO of Warner Chappell Music. He and Carianne Marshall, the company's COO, were appointed co-chairs. [29]
On January 15, 2019, Warner Chappell Music filed a monetization claim against a fanfilm created by Star Wars YouTube channel Star Wars Theory, but rescinded the claim two days later after intervention by Lucasfilm Ltd. on behalf of outraged fans. [30] [31] In May 2019, Warner Chappell Music was again criticized for filing overly broad copyright claims, concerning a large number of YouTube videos by Minecraft Youtuber Mumbo Jumbo, who has more than 8 million subscribers, for the sole reason that the intro song on all of them contained samples of a song that was copyrighted by Warner Chappell Music. The Youtuber had paid for a license to use the song, but it turned out that the samples had not been cleared. He stated that he intended to dispute Warner Chappell Music's claims, but that their large number (around 1800) would make this burdensome. [32]
In May 2019, Warner Chappell acquired the Gene Autry Music Group, comprising four music publishers, 1,500 compositions (including "Back in the Saddle Again", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "Just Walkin' in the Rain", and "You Belong To Me"), and several of Autry's master recordings. [33]
In July 2021, Warner Chappell opened its first office in Vietnam. [34]
On January 3, 2022, Variety reported that the estate of English musician David Bowie had sold the late artist's publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music, "for a price upwards of $250 million". [35]
On January 20, 2022, Warner Chappell signed a worldwide publishing agreement with ABS-CBN Music, the umbrella organization that houses the record label Star Music and its sub-labels, StarPop, Tarsier Records, DNA Music, and Old School Records. One of the biggest music producers in the Philippines, it has the largest catalogue of OPM music, including the international hits such as "Anak" by Freddie Aguilar and "Pangako Sa'yo" by Vina Morales. [36]
"Happy Birthday to You", or simply "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 Guinness World Records, it is the most recognized song in the English language, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The song's base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages. The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All", which has traditionally been attributed to American sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill in 1893, although the claim that the sisters composed the tune is disputed.
Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner, WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 4,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.
Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. is an American businessman, filmmaker, theater producer, and media executive who is a managing partner at Accretive LLC. He previously was CEO of Warner Music Group from 2004 to 2011 and served as its Chairman from 2011 to 2012. Bronfman served as the CEO of WMG during its May 2011 sale to Access Industries. In August 2011, he became Chairman of the company as Stephen Cooper became CEO. Bronfman previously was CEO of Seagram and vice-chairman of Vivendi Universal. Bronfman expanded and later divested ownership of the Seagram Company, and also worked as a Broadway and film producer, and songwriter under the pseudonyms Junior Miles and Sam Roman. He is Chairman of FuboTV.
Sire Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
Disney Music Group (DMG) is the music recording and publishing arm of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. It is located at the studio's headquarters in Burbank, California. The division's subsidiaries consist of two owned record labels—Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records—along with Disney Music Publishing, the publishing entity that administers the company's music, as well as Disney Concerts. Disney Music's Vevo account on YouTube is currently one of the most-viewed YouTube channels as of June 2023.
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a global music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Publishing has been ranked the #1 music publisher in market share by Billboard for multiple consecutive quarters.
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Group. HBG was formed when Hachette Livre purchased the Time Warner Book Group from Time Warner on March 31, 2006. Its headquarters are located at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hachette is considered one of the "big five" publishing companies, along with Holtzbrinck/Macmillan, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. In one year, HBG publishes approximately 1400+ adult books, 300 books for young readers, and 450 audiobook titles. In 2017, the company had 167 books on the New York Times bestseller list, 34 of which reached No. 1.
Chappell & Co. was an English company that published music and manufactured pianos. Founded by pianist Samuel Chappell, the company was one of the leading music publishers and piano manufacturers in Britain until 1980 when Chappell sold its retail activities to concentrate solely on music publishing.
Alfred Music is an American music publishing company. Founded in New York in 1922, it is headquartered in Van Nuys, California, with additional branches in Miami, New York, Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
Maverick was an American entertainment company founded in 1992 by Warner Music Group and run by recording artist Madonna, as well as Frederick DeMann and Veronica "Ronnie" Dashev. It included a record label, a film production company, book publishing, music publishing, an adjacent Latin/Spanish language record label, and a television production company.
Spinnin' Records is a Dutch electronic music record label founded in 1999 by Eelko van Kooten and Roger de Graaf. In September 2017, Warner Music Group acquired Spinnin' Records for over $100 million.
The Free Music Archive (FMA) is an online repository of royalty-free music, currently based in the Netherlands. Established in 2009 by the East Orange, New Jersey community radio station WFMU and in cooperation with fellow stations KBOO and KEXP, it aims to provide music under Creative Commons licenses that can be freely downloaded and used in other works. The service launched with an emphasis on curating high-quality works in a manner "designed for the age of the internet". Users can also "tip" musicians via donations.
Michael Caren is an American record executive. He founded Artist Publishing Company in 2007, as well as its subsidiary Artist Partner Group in 2013. He has served as the President of Worldwide A&R at Warner Music Group from 2012 to 2015, as well as the company's Creative Officer until 2020, Executive Vice President of A&R at Atlantic Records from 2007 to 2012, and Co-president of Elektra Entertainment from 2008 to 2012.
Warner/Chappell Music Inc. et al. v. Fullscreen Inc. et al. (13-cv-05472) was a case against multi-channel network Fullscreen, filed by the National Music Publishers Association on behalf of Warner/Chappell Music and 15 other music publishers, which alleged that Fullscreen illegally profited from unlicensed cover videos on YouTube without paying any royalties to the rightful publishers and songwriters.
Sean Maxwell Douglas is an American songwriter and record producer.
Todd Moscowitz is an American music industry executive. He is the founder and CEO of Alamo Records and Santa Anna Label Group, while serving as the manager of Gucci Mane. Previously, Moscowitz co-founded 300 Entertainment, served as a co-president and CEO of Warner Bros. Records and worked for Def Jam.
Uproxx Studios is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital. In August 2018, Uproxx Media Group was acquired by Warner Music Group, with Myer remaining in control of the company's operations as publisher.
Jennifer Nelson is an American documentary filmmaker, based in New York, known for successfully suing the company Warner/Chappell Music for false claims of copyright to the song "Happy Birthday to You", thereby clarifying its public domain status in the US.
Round Hill Music is an American music publishing company founded in 2010 by Josh Gruss, Richard Rowe, and Neil Gillis. The company operates a music publishing division, a sync and royalty administration, a music production library business, a record label and label services division, and also a Nashville songwriter services group with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and London.
300 Elektra Entertainment (3EE) is an umbrella label group owned by Warner Music Group. It exists as a merger of 300 Entertainment and Elektra Music Group, along with its respectively owned labels.
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