Omnibus Press is a publisher of music-related books. It publishes around 30 new titles a year to add to a backlist of over 250 titles currently in print.

History

Omnibus Press was launched in 1972 as a general non-fiction publisher to complement the sheet music published and distributed by its parent company Music Sales Group. Music Sales had launched a separate company called Book Sales Ltd and the earliest Book Sales catalogue, issued in the early 70s, included compilations of underground comic strips, art and photography titles and one of the earliest books on the then newly discovered art of video. After former ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' music journalist Chris Charlesworth joined as Omnibus editor in 1983, it was decided to concentrate exclusively on music books, and among its earliest acquisitions was Rock Family Trees by music archivist

Pete Frame Peter Frame (born 10 November 1942 in Luton, Bedfordshire, England) is an English music journalist and historian of rock music. He has produced outlines of the history of rock bands for various magazines, such as ''Sounds'', ''NME'', ''Melody Mak ...

which remains in print and have been the basis of two

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

series. Over the succeeding decades Omnibus has published many biographies on most of rock musicians. These include ''Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance'' by Johnny Rogan, ''Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon'' by

Tony Fletcher Tony Fletcher (born 27 April 1964) is a British music journalist best known for his biographies of drummer Keith Moon and the band R.E.M., and also as a show director for the Rock Academy in Woodstock. ''Jamming!'' Born in Yorkshire, England, ...

, ''Uptight: The Velvet Underground Story'' by Victor Bockris and ''Catch A Fire: The Life of Bob Marley'' by Timothy White. Among the rock and pop writers whose work has been published by Omnibus over the years are Richard Williams,

Chris Welch Chris Welch (born 12 November 1941) is an English music journalist, critic, and author who is best known for his work from the late 1960s as a reporter for ''Melody Maker'', ''Musicians Only'', and ''Kerrang!''. He is the author of over 40 mu ...

, Peter Dogget, Patrick Humphries, David Sinclair and Everett True (UK) and

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of '' Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as '' Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone'', and has ...

, Paul Williams, Nelson George, Jerry Hopkins, David Ritz and Danny Sugerman (US). Wise Music Group has published

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

’ printed

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, ...

since the company’s inception, and this association is reflected in the many Beatles-related books that Omnibus has published. These include ''The Beatles: A Diary'' by Barry Miles, a Beatles insider from the early days, ''With The Beatles: The Historic Photos of Dezo Hoffman'', and ''The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles'' by Dominic Pedlar, an analytical study of their music. In 2007, Omnibus published

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by '' The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along w ...

's ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise Edition)''. At 1,600 pages, this is the abridged version of Larkin’s 10-volume encyclopedia, a biographical listing of rock, pop and jazz artists. In 2006, Music Sales acquired Sanctuary Books which added a significant number of additional music books to the Omnibus list, as well as a number of sports, travel and novelty & gift books. In February 2020, parent company Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group.

References

{{Authority control Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom