{{Short description, American music publishing company
Tree International Publishing was a major music publisher, based in Nashville. As the last major music publisher that was owned and operated in Nashville, it was sold to the CBS Records Group in 1989.
John Pareles
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', January 4, 1989. Retrieved 2016-05-29. The catalog is now part of
Sony Music Publishing
Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...
.
History
Tree International Publishing was founded by
Jack Stapp
Jack Stapp (December 8, 1912 – December 20, 1980) was an American country music manager.
Biography
Stapp was born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. His family moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1921, and Stapp was educated in that city. He beca ...
in the 1950s. In 1953, Stapp hired
Buddy Killen
William Doyce “Buddy” Killen (November 13, 1932 – November 1, 2006) was an American record producer and music publisher, and a former owner of Trinity Broadcasting Network and Tree International Publishing, the largest country music p ...
, then twenty years old, to audition songs and sing demos. In 1956, Killen discovered "
Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being g ...
", which he persuaded
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', January 4, 1989. Retrieved 2016-05-29. In 1989, Killen sold the company to
CBS Records CBS Records may refer to:
* CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company
* CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990
* CBS Records (2006), founde ...
, owned by
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
for a price estimated to be between $30 million and $40 million. At the time, Tree International Publishing had a catalogue of approximately 35,000 songs and had been the leading publisher on the
Billboard charts
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...