 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music |
| Predecessor | Chappell & Co. |
| Founded | 1987; 38 years ago (1987) |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Guy Moot (CEO, co-chair) Carianne Marshall (COO, co-chair)[1] |
| Services | Music publishing |
| Parent | Warner Music Group |
| Divisions | Warner Chappell Production Music |
| Website | warnerchappell.com |
Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an Americanmusic publishing company and a subsidiary of theWarner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalog consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 150,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries.[2]
The company, founded in 1811 asChappell & Co., was a British music publishing company and instrument shop inBond Street,London, that specialised in piano manufacturing.[3] In 1929,Warner Bros. acquiredM. Witmark & Sons,Remick Music Corporation andHarms, Inc.[4] Tamerlane Music (affiliated withValiant Records) was acquired in 1969.[5]
Warner Chappell Music was formed inSan Antonio, Texas, in 1987, whenWarner Music Group ChairmanChuck Kaye led the company to purchase Chappell & Co. fromPolyGram (now Universal Music Group) (UMG).[6]
In 1988, Warner-Chappell acquired Birch Tree Group (formerly Summy-Birchard),[7][8] publisher ofHappy Birthday to You,[9] theFrances Clark piano method books,[10] and former publisher of theMusical Courier.[11]
In 1990, Warner Chappell acquired Mighty Three Music, the publishing company ofThom Bell andGamble and Huff.[12] The same year, Warner Chappell acquired the Canadian music publisherGordon V. Thompson Music.[13]
In 1994, Warner Bros. Publications expanded its print music operations by acquiring CPP/Belwin. CPP/Belwin had been the former print music arm ofColumbia Pictures.[14]
In 2005, Warner Chappell Music sold most of its printed music division, Warner Bros. Publications, toAlfred Publishing,[15] and in 2006 launched the Pan European Digital Licensing (P.E.D.L.) initiative. In 2007, whenRadiohead releasedIn Rainbows through its website on a pay-what-you-wish model, Warner Chappell Music created a streamlined, one-of-a-kind licensing process for the songs on the album[16] that allowed rights users around the world to secure use of the music from a single location.[17]
In 2006, David H. Johnson was elevated to interim CEO and then in 2007 to Chairman & CEO of the company.[18]
In November 2006,Disney Music Publishing and Warner Chappell agreed to a licensing agreement for Europe and South America major markets.[19]
In 2007, the company acquired Non-Stop Music.[20] Additionally, in 2010 it acquired615 Music, a Nashville-based production music company,[21] and subsequently united all the production music companies under the name Warner Chappell Production Music in 2012.[22] In 2011, it acquired Southside Independent Music Publishing, whose songwriters includedBruno Mars, Brody Brown, and J.R. Rotem.[23] In July 2012, Warner/Chappell purchased the music rights of the film studioMiramax Films.[24]
It was ranked in 2010 byMusic & Copyright as the world's third-largest music publisher.[25] Among the songs in the company's library are "Winter Wonderland" and formerly "Happy Birthday to You" until the copyright of the song wasinvalidated in 2015 and put in the public domain the next year.[26]
In January 2011, Cameron Strang, founder ofNew West Records and Southside Independent Music Publishing, was named CEO of Warner Chappell Music.[27] He was succeeded by former company presidentJon Platt in 2016.[28]
Warner Chappell acquiredFrank Gari's studio in 2015, adding to its production music library some of the most well-knowntelevision news music themes including those for local stations owned byABC,CBS, andNBC.[29]
On June 30, 2017, Warner Chappell Music filed a lawsuit againstEMI Music Publishing, accusing the latter company of underpaying Warner Music for the royalties of the20th Century Fox catalogue, which Warner acquired in 1982, as well as the rights toCurtis Mayfield andKool and the Gang. This controversy arises from EMI's acquisition ofRobbins and Feist in the early 1990s.[30]
On January 9, 2019, Guy Moot was named CEO of Warner Chappell Music. He andCarianne Marshall, the company's COO, were appointed co-chairs.[31]
On January 15, 2019, Warner Chappell Music filed a monetization claim against a fanfilm created byStar Wars YouTube channelStar Wars Theory, but rescinded the claim two days later after intervention by Lucasfilm Ltd. on behalf of outraged fans.[32][33] In May 2019, Warner Chappell Music was again criticized for filing overly broad copyright claims, concerning a large number of YouTube videos by Minecraft YouTuber Mumbo Jumbo, who has more than 9 million subscribers, for the sole reason that the intro song on all of them contained samples of a song that was copyrighted by Warner Chappell Music. The YouTuber had paid for a license to use the song, but it turned out that the samples had not been cleared. He stated that he intended to dispute Warner Chappell Music's claims, but that their large number (around 1800) would make this burdensome.[34]
In May 2019, Warner Chappell acquired theGene Autry Music Group, comprising four music publishers, 1,500 compositions (including "Back in the Saddle Again", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "Just Walkin' in the Rain", and "You Belong To Me"), and several of Autry's master recordings.[35]
In July 2021, Warner Chappell opened its first office in Vietnam.[36]
On January 3, 2022,Variety reported that the estate of English musicianDavid Bowie had sold the late artist's publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music, "for a price upwards of $250 million".[37]
On January 20, 2022, Warner Chappell signed a worldwide publishing agreement withABS-CBN Music, the umbrella organization that houses the record labelStar Music and its sub-labels, StarPop, Tarsier Records, DNA Music, and Old School Records. One of the biggest music producers in the Philippines, it has the largest catalogue ofOPM music, including the international hits such as "Anak" byFreddie Aguilar and "Pangako Sa'yo" byVina Morales.[38]
In November 2023, it was announced that Warner Chappell had signed British singer songwriterDido to distribute her discography catalogue and future music releases.[39]
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