Spirit Music Group Buys Jimmy Sturr Catalog
— Spirit Music Group has purchased the complete song catalog of polka icon Jimmy Sturr as part of a joint venture with with Lauren Keiser, the veteran print and concert music publisher. The deal covers Sturr’s entire library of 250 songs, including such polka standards like “Hopscotch Polka,” “Break Out The Bottle,” “Ole Ole,” “Papa Won’t You Dance With Me” and “Raisin’ Cane.”
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Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As part of the joint venture purchase, Spirit will focus on global administration and proactive sync licensing, while Keiser will try to build awareness for the catalog via expanded print and improved marketing for Jimmy’s records and his brand throughout polka’s strongest fan communities in the U.S. and Europe.
“As Spirit continues to actively assemble a second-to-none roster of the most influential songwriters and writer/artists across all genres, Jimmy Sturr is another category killer,” Spirit president Mark Fried said in a statement. “We’re honored to be working with Jimmy and partnering with Lauren in shining a light on this unique and influential body of work.”
In another move, the Spirit Music Group has signed a multi-year North American sub-publishing agreement with Edizioni Curci, one of Italy’s oldest music publishers. The Edizioni Curci 45,000 song catalog — owned and managed by the Curci family for more than 150 years — includes “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” “Volare,” “Libertango,” and”This Is My Life (La Vita).” It also includes a considerable mix of film, opera and classical music, while more recent signings include Guido Morra, Maurizio Fabrizio, rocker Vasco Rossi and writer/artist Tiziano Ferro.
“Working as we do with the most talented directors, supervisors and editors in film, television and new media, we’re confident we will have much success licensing and promoting this varied collection of authentic, evocative works in high profile productions and expand awareness for Curci’s songs and artists,” Fried said in a statement.
Imagem Music USA Signs John Shanks
— Imagem Music USA (IMU) has signed of a worldwide, multi-year co-publishing agreement with Grammy winning writer/producer John Shanks, who has worked with such artists as Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, Melissa Etheridge, Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, Santana and Michelle Branch.
More recently, he produced Van Halen’s “A Different Kind of Truth,” and is currently in the studio with Bon Jovi working on the band’s fifth album, according to the announcement. IMU president Rich Stumpf says Shanks “brings the best out of the best. What he adds to the song writing and production process is a gift.”
Elsewhere within the Imagem Music Group, R&H Theatricals will soon be licensing the reworked stage musical “Carrie,” based on Steven King’s best selling novel, while the play’s score will be published by Imagem Music, both a division of the Imagem Music Group.
The musical — with music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Dean Pitchford and book by Lawrnece D. Cohen — will also be available as a songbook folio based on the off-Boadway production and published by Imagem Music/Hal Leonard, according to an Imagem press release.
“When I saw this new version at MCC this year, I felt [the authors] had successfully walked the delicate line that a stage musical of this story requires — and came out with an extraordinary and emotionally complex show that played like gangbusters,” Rodgers & Hammerstein president Ted Chapin said in a statement. “I am thrilled that we are now representing the show and the score, and are able to make it available to theaters around the world.”
In a joint statement, Cohen, Gore and Pitchford said they are proud to “be a part of a stellar catalog alongside the classics of Rodgers and Hammerstein.”
ASCAP To Honor Trevor Rabin At Film/TV Music Awards
— ASAP will honor composer Trevor Rabin at the 27th annual ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards, taking place June 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Rabin will be presented with the distinguished ASCAP Henry Mancini Award.