Month: July

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Music publisher ole has just bought a 50% stake in Jody Williams Music Catalog. This contains 3,300 titles and the terms of the deal are not disclosed. The catalog contains several major country hits and songs on the new Taylor Swift album. Ole will team up with Sony/ATV to assess how they can make some of the songs active, whether within the Nashville music scene or in film and on TV. The catalog generated between $500,000 and $1 million annually in net publisher share. Ole is optimistic because country songs have the ability to work across genres and territories. The company also looks to remain aggressive in acquiring more publisher assets in the future.

Month: December

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Warner Music Group's (WMG), the only publicly traded stand-stand alone record company, stock has been on a steady free-fall for all of 2007. WMG's stock started 2007 at $23.14 per share, and at the end of Nov. 2007, is down to $7.60 per share. This article investigates why this has happened, and makes some projections for the future of of WMG, its stock, and the music industry at large.

Month: October

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UK Virgin Megastores face a rebranding challenge after being acquired by new management, Zavvi. In the US, Virgin Megastores will have separate new ownership, but will retain the use of the Virgin Megastore logo.

Month: October

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Can Terra Firma save EMI Music and put a halt to their continually falling sales? EMI's 2006-2007 annual report indicated that EMI lost market share in all territories except Japan. Terra Firma has a lot of work to do.

Month: June

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EMI agrees to a takeover bid from Terra Firma, a private equity firm. EMI reports a 19% fall in revenues. It was reported that digital sales were increasing but not at a fast enough rate to compesate for the increasing decline in physical sales.

Month: June

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WMG and Terra Firma vie for EMI. WMG has made offers but EMI has seemed unwilling to accept anything lower that 300p ($5.55) a share. A takeover of EMI by WMG would be subject to regulatory approval by EC.

Month: March

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After securing a deal with IMPALA, WMG is clear to takeover EMI Group, but so far EMI has declined all of WMG's offers.

Month: August

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Terra Firma is finalizing a deal to purchase EMI Group. What will happen after EMI Group is acquired? Will Terra Firma sell off EMI Music or hold on to it?