Matador Records has acquired the complete catalog rights of its flagship artists Interpol, Pavement and Spoon.
Interpol rose to prominence with their Gold-selling albums Turn On the Bright Lights (2002) and Antics (2004). Those releases were followed by Our Love To Admire (2007), Interpol (2010), El Pintor (2014) and Marauder (2018). The band’s catalog and forthcoming releases will be represented by Matador worldwide, with some of those rights coming into effect once they revert back to the group.
Pavement, which is reuniting for a headline show at the Primavera Sound festival next year, released a total of five albums on Matador: Slanted And Enchanted (1992); Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994); Wowee Zoee (1995); Brighten The Corners (1997); and Terror Twilight (1999). The band’s catalog will now be represented by Matador globally, excluding Europe.
Spoon released their 1996 debut album Telophono and the 1997 follow-up EP Soft Effects on Matador. Their subsequent non-Matador albums were A Series of Sneaks (1998), Girls Can Tell (2001), Kill The Moonlight (2002), Gimme Fiction (2005), Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007), Transference (2010) and They Want My Soul (2014); they returned to Matador for the 2017 album Hot Thoughts. The band’s entire repertoire will now be represented by Matador, with some rights coming into effect at the end of their contractual period. Subsequent releases, including a new album next year, will be represented by Matador worldwide.
Sony Music Masterworks has made a strategic investment in Seaview, the theater production company led by Tony Award-winning producer and entrepreneur Greg Nobile.
Under the agreement, Masterworks has acquired a 50% ownership position in Seaview, with which it will collaborate on developing several new theatrical productions. It will additionally support Seaview in launching new film, television and podcasting verticals in 2021.
Nobile, who is co-founder and CEO of Seaview, will continue overseeing its day-to-day operations alongside co-founder Jana Shea and managing director Carly Callahan. They will work closely with Sony Masterworks president Mark Cavell and Masterworks Broadway senior vp Scott Farthing.
Seaview develops and produces shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway and on London’s West End. It most recently produced Jeremy O. Harris’ 12-time Tony-nominated Slave Play and the four-time Tony-nominated double bill Sea Wall/A Life on Broadway. Forthcoming productions include the Broadway-bound musical Lempicka directed by Rachel Chavkin and a new play by Harris.
Masterworks has also signed a new strategic partnership with U.K.-based classical music publishing company Wise Music Group to identify and sign top artist and composer talent.
Under the deal, Masterworks and Wise Music will sign new writers in the classical genre to recording and publishing agreements that will allow the companies to bring their respective strengths to developing their careers.
The first two signings under the agreement are Icelandic instrumental duo Hugar and New York-based classical composer Eydís Evensen.
The two new deals are the latest in Masterworks’ recent strategic growth initiatives, including its acquisition of a 100% stake in music, ballet and event promoter Raymond Gubbay Ltd (RGL); acquisition of a majority stake in concert promotion and production company Senbla; formation of the new booking agency RoadCo; and acquisition of a majority stake in U.S.-based artist management and production company Terrapin Station Entertainment.
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) has added four new music data companies to its Data Quality Initiative (DQI): Blokur, Exactuals, Music Data Services and TuneRegistry. Through their work with The MLC, the companies will make it easier for users and customers to participate in the DQI and check the accuracy of their musical works data in The MLC’s database.
The DQI offers a streamlined way for publishers, administrators, self-administered songwriters, composers and lyricists and ex-U.S. collective management organizations (CMOs) to compare their musical works data with The MLC’s data to ensure they are consistent. Participants in the DQI receive reports highlighting any discrepancies, allowing them to identify those discrepancies and submit the necessary corrections to receive all mechanical royalties they’re entitled to.
Each of the companies will take a different approach in assisting their clients and customers in navigating the DQI. Some will integrate new functionality into the data-related products, services and software platforms they already use, while others will work with clients one-on-one to help them prepare and submit their comparison files and review the results.
“We’re excited to work with a wide variety of companies that deal with music data, be they emerging tech startups or legacy players in the music space, because we want to help as many of our members as possible participate in our Data Quality Initiative,” said Dae Bogan, head of third party partnerships at The MLC, in a statement. “They offer different tiers of service, from high-cost enterprise platforms to economical new software targeting self-administered songwriters and smaller publishers.”
“Our team is committed to making the process of checking data as efficient and effective as possible for all of our members,” added MLC CEO Kris Ahrend. “Enabling innovative companies like these to make it easier for their users and customers to participate in our Data Quality Initiative helps The MLC achieve that important goal. We appreciate their willingness to help support the DQI.”
Reservoir has signed a joint venture agreement with film score and soundtrack production company Atlantic Screen Music. Under the deal, the two companies invest in film score and soundtrack projects together. The new venture is part of Reservoir’s commitment to expanding the company’s film music repertoire.
Founded in 2009, Atlantic Screen music has acquired, financed, supervised and published major scores for films including Atomic Blonde, Lone Survivor and Escape Plan. Under the new agreement, the company will partner with Reservoir on scores and soundtracks for films including The War With Grandpa starring Robert De Niro, The Asset starring Michael Keaton, Mothering Sunday starring Colin Firth and Cosmic Sin starring Bruce Willis.
Atlantic Screen Music’s music supervision company Redfive, which will be supervising the majority of the film-related projects under the Reservoir deal, has supervised on films including The Wife and McQueen and TV shows including The Trip to Greece and Apple TV+’s Long Way Up starring Ewan McGregor.
Jack White’s Third Man Records has signed singer-songwriter Natalie Bergman ahead of the release of her forthcoming debut solo album next year.
Along with the announcement, Bergman is sharing the new gospel-inspired track “I Will Praise You,” which deals with the recent loss of Bergman’s father.
Bergman is one-half of brother-sister duo Wild Belle. She has also collaborated with Major Lazer, Tom Tom Club and Elvis Costello (for the theme song to the HBO series The Deuce), performed at Coachella and Lollapalooza and toured with Beck, Cage The Elephant and Toro y Moi.
Gospel and inspirational music label RCA Inspiration has signed a record deal with the new choir Voices of Fire, in partnership with Pharrell Williams’ company I Am Other.
Led by Bishop Ezekiel Williams, Voices of Fire is featured in the new Netflix docu-series of the same name, executive-produced by Pharrell, who is Williams’ nephew. The choir will record its first full-length album on RCA Inspiration and I Am Other at a future date.
The “Voices of Fire” documentary follows Pharrell and Williams as they scout fresh voices in the Hampton Roads, VA region and build a brand-new choir.
Emerging pop singer Lanie Gardner has been signed to Kevin Jonas Sr.’s Jonas Group Entertainment for management.
Jonas Sr. became aware of Gardner through her viral cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” which blew up after being shared by Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas and Ryan Tedder on Instagram.
Gardner previously signed a label deal with Republic Records.
