Universal Music Publishing Group has acquired indie publisher Big Life Music for an undisclosed sum.
Through the deal, unveiled today, UMPG will have worldwide publishing rights to alternative rock act Snow Patrol’s past and future works.
Veteran artist manager Jazz Summers and former artist Tim Parry established the publisher in 1987. The firm now boasts a catalog containing more than 2,000 copyrights, including works by Badly Drawn Boy, the Futureheads and Gabriela Montero.
Big Life, which asserts to be “one of the top independent publishers in the country,” is self-administered in the U.K., and sub-published by a number of third-parties elsewhere.
“Rarely do you find a music company as edgy and diversified as Big
Life,” comments Paul Connolly, president of Europe and U.K., UMPG, in a statement issued today.
Edge Group conceived, structured, pieced-together and brought in the lawyers on the deal, explains the media investment and advisory firm’s founder, David Glick. “We did the deal from start to finish,” he tells Billboard.biz. “We didn’t actually receive an offer from Universal — we had lots of other offers — until Tuesday. We negotiated it Wednesday, and signed it Saturday.”
Summers and Parry’s respective label and management divisions, Big Life Records and Big Life Management, are unaffected by the new arrangement.
“Jazz and Tim have consistently pushed the creative envelope over many years,” adds Connolly. “We are delighted with the acquisition and of course very proud to represent Snow Patrol.”
Snow Patrol, who have sold more than seven million albums, according to Universal Music Group, signed with Big Life for publishing in 2002. The band has a record deal with Fiction, a label of Universal’s Polydor division.
