Imagem Music Group was a Dutch music publisher. The company was founded in 2008 by the Dutch firm
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP ("National Civil Pension Fund"), frequently referred to as ABP, is the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands. For the quarter ended 31 December 2014, ABP had 2.8 million participants an ...
, one of the world's largest pension funds, in conjunction with the independent publisher and media company CP Masters BV. It began by acquiring European music publishing rights in a number of catalogues sold by
Universal Music Publishing Group after its acquisition of
BMG Music Publishing, such as Rondor UK, Zomba UK, 19 Music, 19 Songs, & the BBC catalog; the sale was worth 140 million euros (US$221.5 million). These were sold by Universal after the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
ordered the sell-off as a condition of its merger with
BMG's publishing arm. This was followed by acquiring the world's leading classical music publishing company
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...
in 2008 and
Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in 2009.
On June 2, 2017,
Concord announced that it would acquire Imagem for $500 million. The deal included 250,000 compositions, and tripled Concord's number of publishing copyrights. With the acquisition, Concord merged Imagem with The Bicycle Music Company to form Concord Music Publishing.
Highlights from Imagem's pop catalogue included
Nik Kershaw
Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the decade, i ...
,
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...
,
Genesis,
The Temper Trap
The Temper Trap are an Australian indie rock band formed in 2005 by , Jonathon Aherne, and Toby Dundas. In 2008, the group relocated from Melbourne to London. The band released their debut album ''Conditions (album), Conditions'' in June 2009 to ...
,
M.I.A.,
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
,
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...
,
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...
and
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
; as well as some European rights to
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...
and
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...
. Imagem had offices in the Netherlands, London, New York, Los Angeles and Berlin.
Boosey and Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes was sold to Imagem in April 2008 for £126m by its private equity owner,
HgCapital. The sale was one of the world's largest of classical music. Hg Capital took Boosey & Hawkes off the stock exchange in 2003 for £75m. Under its ownership, the group made six acquisitions in new areas like jazz and tango. Revenues from supplying music for advertising and film were increased, and printing and distribution outsourced.
Rodgers and Hammerstein
In 2009, the estates of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II sold the rights to songs and musicals, including ''
South Pacific'', ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...
'' and ''
Oklahoma!
''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...
'', to Imagem Music Group. The sale transferred power over one of America's most famous song catalogs and the licensing rights for future productions of the musicals, which had been controlled by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, a Manhattan-based company. As part of the deal, Imagem acquired the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and retained its management.
References
External links
Boosey & HawkesRodgers & Hammerstein
{{Authority control
Concord Music Group
Music publishing companies
Production music
Music organisations based in the Netherlands