music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, United States. Acuff-Rose's honest behavior towards their writers set them apart from other music publishing firms at the time and led them to fame throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Currently, the company's catalog is owned by Sony Music Publishing (US), LLC (Delaware).
Early history
Acuff-Rose was formed by
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
performer Roy Acuff and Fred Rose, a major Nashville music-industry figure and songwriter, who had a respected ability as a talent scout. Many country performers had been badly cheated in the past with regard to
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
and other rights to their creations. Many were unsophisticated and naive and were taken advantage of by unscrupulous
agent
Agent may refer to:
Espionage, investigation, and law
*, spies or intelligence officers
* Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
s, attorneys, record promoters, record labels and others. When they started their publishing company, a condition to the gentleman's agreement between Acuff and Rose was that "our company would be honest. The writers would always be taken care of. No one would act in a shady way." Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc. was affiliated with BMI, while Milene Music, Inc. handled music from ASCAP member composers. Both firms initiated business in 1943 with Fred Rose compositions; Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc. copyrighted four songs (under Rose's pseudonym 'Floyd Jenkins') on January 28, while Milene Music, Inc., published "We Live In Two Different Worlds" in July.
Acuff-Rose had its headquarters on 8th Avenue South in the Melrose district of Nashville and was something of a landmark to those knowledgeable of the music industry. It was here that Hank Williams, to prove his ability to Rose, wrote what would become a major hit ("
A Mansion on the Hill
"A Mansion on the Hill" is a song written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose and originally recorded by Williams on MGM Records. It peaked at No. 12 on the Most Played Jukebox Folk Records chart in March 1949.
Background
The details surrounding ...
") while Rose went out to a nearby restaurant for a cup of coffee. Williams proved to be a significant signing, by subsequently releasing a string of both country, and pop hits.
Catalog growth, 1954–1984
On Fred Rose's death in 1954, his son
Wesley Rose
Wesley Rose (born February 11, 1918 – April 26, 1990) was an American music industry executive and record producer.
Biography
The son of songwriter Fred Rose, he was born in Chicago and studied to become a chartered accountant. He eventu ...
served as president of Acuff-Rose. Wesley Rose led the publishing company for the next 30 years. He was instrumental not only in the success of Acuff-Rose but also in the growth of country music outside the U.S., being the first country music publisher to establish offices overseas. Acuff-Rose Music flourished throughout this period.
Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted ...
,
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant
Felice Bryant (born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto; August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003) and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant (; February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987) were an Americans, American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team. They ...
Don Gibson
Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson wrote such country standards as " Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoy ...
,
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 193 ...
,
Mickey Newbury
Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. (May 19, 1940 – September 29, 2002) was an American songwriter, recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
Newbury was born in Houston, Texas, on May 19, ...
,
Dallas Frazier
Dallas Frazier (October 27, 1939 – January 14, 2022) was an American country musician and songwriter who had success in the 1950s and 1960s.
Life and career
Frazier was born in Spiro, Oklahoma, on October 27, 1939, but was raised in Bakersfi ...
, and
Whitey Shafer
Sanger D. Shafer (October 24, 1934 – January 12, 2019), - at
Acuff-Rose Music also operated a record label, Hickory Records, Inc., until 1987. It still exists as an assumed name of the parent corporation (see below).
Sale to Gaylord Entertainment Group, Sony/ATV
Recognizing the frailty of their health and that the company he and Fred Rose had founded in 1942 was in steady decline, Roy Acuff approached Wesley Rose late in 1984 and suggested that it was time to sell the catalog. They did not have to look very far for a buyer. By May 1985, Grand Ole Opry parent company
Gaylord Entertainment Company
Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. () is a hotel, resort, entertainment, and media company named after National Historic Landmark the Ryman Auditorium, built as a tabernacle by Captain Thomas G. Ryman in 1892 and later the home of the Grand Ole Op ...
purchased the catalogue for $15 million. The company returned to prominence during this time under the guidance of
Music Row
Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as a w ...
veterans Jerry Bradley and Troy Tomlinson and acquired Tom Collins Music. However, finding itself in need of cash in order to complete construction of one of its trademark convention hotels in Texas, Gaylord sold the publishing company to
Sony/ATV 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 ...
in 2002. Sony/ATV Music Publishing had previously purchased Acuff-Rose's main Music Row rival, Tree International. The combined catalogs continue to dominate the country music publishing industry. In 2007, Sony/ATV Music Nashville became the first publisher in history to capture BMI Country Music Publisher of the Year, ASCAP Country Music Publisher of the Year, SESAC Country Music Publisher of the Year, and '' Billboard'' Country Music Publisher of the Year.
''Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.''
Acuff-Rose Music was involved in a landmark copyright infringement case in the 1990s: ''
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
''Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.'', 510 U.S. 569 (1994), was a United States Supreme Court copyright law case that established that a commercial parody can qualify as fair use. This case established that the fact that money is made by a work do ...
'' (510 U.S. 569; 1994). In dispute was the use by
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
artist
Luther Campbell
Luther Roderick Campbell (born December 22, 1960), also known as Luke Skyywalker, Uncle Luke and simply Luke, is an American rapper, promoter, record executive, actor, and former leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew. He also starred in a short ...
(then using the alias "Luke Skyywalker") and his band
2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew is an American hip hop group from Miami, Florida, which had its greatest commercial success from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The group's most well-known line up was composed of Luke Campbell, Fresh Kid Ice, Mr. Mixx, and ...
of a substantial amount of the Roy Orbison hit song "
Oh, Pretty Woman
"Oh, Pretty Woman" or simply "Pretty Woman" is a song recorded by Roy Orbison, written by Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 f ...
" in a
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
. Claiming their version of the song fell under the
fair use
Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
doctrine of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. 107, Campbell prevailed in the
United States district court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
in Nashville. However, this was reversed at the appellate level by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* Eastern District of Kentucky
* Western District of ...
. The case was argued before the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
on November 9, 1993. Handing down its ruling on March 7, 1994, the court held that the appellate court placed too much emphasis on the commercial nature of the parody. The opinion of the appellate court was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings. Subsequently, the parties agreed to settle the case to avoid further legal expense.