— The Spirit Music Group has purchased the Escape Club song catalog, which includes the band’s debut hit, “Wild Wild West,” as well as songs like “Shake For The Sheik” and “I’ll Be There.”
Escape Club, which released three albums between 1988 and 1991, wrote their own songs. Terms of the deal, which is for the entire catalog, were not disclosed.
In addition to representing the band¹s catalog, Spirit Music is partnering with the band’s lead singer Trevor Steel– an active writer/producer via his Sunday Morning Records imprint in Australia–to represent his recent and future work with such artists as Short Stack and Because They Can and Die For You. Moreoever, Steele and guitarist John Holliday are also finishing up a new Escape Club project due in early 2012.
“After years of having our classic songs hidden away in over-large catalogues, we are excited to be joining forces with a company that realizes their potential and is willing to work hard to promote them,” Steele said in a statement.
In another move, Spirit signed a publishing and marketing deal with electronic/pop songwriter and artist Nika Danilova, also known as Zola Jesus. In addition to administering the songwriter/artist’s works, the company will work toward the strategic promotion of Danilova’s music and brand.
The artist, who has released two albums and an EP so far, plans tour in the US, Europe and South America in 2012.
— Peermusic have signed British rock band FM to a worldwide music publishing administration deal with Dark Green Music, which publishes the band’s music, for the group’s 2010 album “Metropolis” and future works.
The band will tour this year in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of their debut album, “Indiscreet,” beginning in March. Later in the year, the band is set to release its new album, tentatively named “Desolation Station.”
— Since unveiling its Sheet Music Direct app for the iPad, Hal Leonard Publishing executives says the app has been downloaded over 10,000 times and has produced “a high in-app purchase rate.
The app allows consumers to not only download digital versions of sheet music to their iPad, but they can also store all purchases made from the Hal Leonard site, Sheet Music Direct, in the store’s cloud service.
In addition to being free, the app comes preloaded with 15 songs, including “Time Is on My Side,” “Scarborough Fair,” and “House of the Rising Sun.”
According to the company, after musicians use the app to download interactive songs, they can then transpose and mix the songs to meet their needs. Moreover, they can create various set lists to keep music organized for gigs, as well as choose viewing options, like selecting their preferred paper type, background color and score orientation, according to the announcement. The app is also compatible with Bluetooth, hands-free, page-turning devices such as as the PageFlip Cicada and AirTurn. Finally, the app can be integrated with Facebook, Twitter and email.
“This is a real game-changer for the sheet music industry,” Hal Leonard president Larry Morton said in a statement. The company’s VP of digital enterprise solutions Joe Burzinski added in a statement that the company had “invested more than a year in developing not just this app, but all of the requisite digital asset management systems. This initiative marks the beginning of a expansive strategic move for Hal Leonard, as we update our business models for today¹s mobile- and cloud-based market.”
As part of its digital asset management efforts, Hal Leonard is also engaged in developing a wide range of new apps, websites and programs with third-party technology companies, according to the company.