On Wednesday, BMG announced that it had signed a deal with the Rolling Stones to handle their publishing.
While most media reported that it was for the Stones’ post-1971 music, ABKCO Music and Records felt that it wasn’t clear enough. To clear up any misconceptions, they issued the following statement on Thursday:
New York, June 26, 2013 – In light of today’s announcement by BMG concerning its involvement in music publishing interests in songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, ABKCO Music, Inc. wishes to reiterate that ABKCO, and ABKCO alone, owns and controls 100% of the worldwide copyright to the original 1963-1971 publishing catalog of Jagger/Richards Rolling Stones compositions.
ABKCO CEO Jody Klein stated that the BMG announcement “has no relevance whatsoever to ABKCO’s ongoing role in its ownership or control of all existing copyrights, including such seminal titles as ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ and others from that period as has been the case for more than 40 years.”
“We wish BMG all the best with their new endeavor but it must be noted that ABKCO, a wholly owned independent entertainment company, remains the sole source of rights and licensing for these compositions along with the corresponding master recordings by The Rolling Stones. It is unfortunate that BMG’s statement may have led some to conclude otherwise.”
ABKCO has always been very protective of the ownership of the Stones pre-1971 music even though they did cooperate with the group for the recent compilation album GRRR!
Other catalog’s under ABKCO’s control include Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack, Eric Burdon, Herman’s Hermits, Marianne Faithfull and the Kinks. The also own the Cameo-Parkway masters of Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, Clint Eastwood, The Orlons, The Dovells, ? & The Mysterians, Charlie Gracie, The Tymes and Dee Dee Sharp.
Read more at VVN Music
