Sony-ATV Music Publishing
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| Limited liability company | |
| Industry | Music publishing |
| Founded | 1955 |
| Founder | Lew Grade, Baron Grade |
| Headquarters | 550 Madison Avenue, New York City, New York, U.S. |
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Key people
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Martin Bandier (Chairman and CEO) Rick Krim (Co-President) |
| Services | Music publishing |
| Owner | Sony Corporation |
| Parent | Sony Entertainment, Inc. |
| Website | www |
Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC is an American music publishing company owned by Sony through Sony Entertainment. The company was founded as a division of Associated Television (ATV) in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1985, Michael Jackson acquired ATV Music Publishing for $47.5 million. Paul McCartney, who had told Jackson about the importance of owning publishing, admitted he felt somewhat undercut by the purchase, because ATV Music Publishing owned the publishing rights to most of The Beatles' songs, although he did not enter the bidding when it came up for sale in 1984.
In December 1995, Michael Jackson agreed to merge ATV Music Publishing with Sony Music Publishing, a division of Sony Corporation, to form Sony/ATV Music Publishing. In 2012 an investor consortium led by Sony/ATV Music Publishing acquired EMI Music Publishing for approximately $2.2 billion. Sony/ATV Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing now operate as one company, with the former entity administering the catalogue of the latter under a complex business structure. Following the acquisition, the company became the largest music publisher in the world, with a library of over two million songs under its administration. On March 14, 2016, Sony announced that it had reached a deal to acquire the Jackson estate's stake in the company. The deal was completed on September 30, 2016.
Sony/ATV was founded as a subsidiary of the UK's Associated Television (ATV). ATV operated a commercial television company, broadcasting from 1955 in London (until 1968) and the English Midlands as part of the Independent Television (ITV) network.
Business tycoon Louis Benjamin was involved with Lew Grade as part of one of the four major record companies in the UK at the time. The company was Pye Records which, along with EMI, Philips, and (the British) Decca Records, accounted for the vast majority of music records sold in the UK. In 1959, ATV acquired 50% of Pye Records. Between them, Grade and Benjamin held most of the shares. ATV Music Publishing was created to exploit the catalogue of songs written by artists on the Pye Record label, and for the themes to ITC and ATV television programmes. The UK rights to some of the rock 'n' roll music from the US were also bought by ATV. Grade established ATV's headquarters alongside those of Pye Records; off Edgware Road, beside the Marble Arch in central London.
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Wikipedia