Concord Bicycle Music Acquires Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatrical Rights & Publishing

Concord Bicycle Music has announced the acquisition of global independent music publishing and theatrical rights company Imagem Music Group. Unique for its leadership role in Broadway, classical, and pop music, Imagem Music Group's vast and historic catalogue of music assets totals more than 250,000 copyrights and includes compositions by some of the most significant and successful artists and songwriters in music history. The landmark agreement brings Concord Bicycle Music's combined publishing catalogue to 380,000 copyrighted works, further underscoring the company's position as a fully integrated independent recorded music and publishing powerhouse.

Imagem Music Group is comprised of three distinct business units: Rodgers & Hammerstein (theatrical), Imagem Music (pop), and Boosey & Hawkes (classical), with offices in London, Berlin, and New York.

Rodgers & Hammerstein, founded in 1943, is arguably the greatest theatrical rights and publishing company in the world with 5,000 copyrights that include masterworks like The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, The King and I, Carousel, and South Pacific. The company also represents iconic composers such as Irving Berlin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Schwartz, Rodgers & Hart, and Kern & Hammerstein.

Created in 2008, Imagem Music controls an immense catalogue of 175,000 copyrights, featuring songs written by Phil Collins and Genesis, Daft Punk, Pink Floyd, Mark Ronson, Linkin Park, Sammy Cahn, Iron Maiden, Chet Faker, M.I.A., R. Kelly, Billy Ocean, Will Smith, Steve Miller, Cathy Dennis, Lionel Richie, Kaiser Chiefs, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Revivalists, and Oh Wonder, among many others.

Controlling 74,000 copyrights, Boosey & Hawkes, founded in 1930, is the largest specialist classical publisher in the world. Its catalogue includes essential composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten, Sergei Prokofieff, Richard Strauss, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, along with popular contemporary composers such as John Adams, Steve Reich, and Sir Karl Jenkins.

In making the announcement, Scott Pascucci, CEO, Concord Bicycle Music, observed: "Steve Smith, Jake Wisely, and I congratulate André de Raaff and Denis Wigman on a decade's success building the Imagem portfolio to its extraordinary substance and scale. These are precious copyrights - they represent some of the best music ever created and we are proud to have an opportunity to represent them to the world. Our team looks forward to working with everyone at Imagem Music, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Boosey & Hawkes, as we usher in the next phase of Concord Bicycle Music's development into an industry-leading, full-service music company."

André de Raaff, CEO, Imagem Music Group, said: "I want to thank the Dutch pension fund ABP for believing and supporting us in creating such a successful and leading worldwide music publishing company in the shortest time ever in history. Winning GRAMMYs® for Record of the Year with Daft Punk and Mark Ronson, Tony Awards for revivals of our musicals South Pacific and The King and I, and the continuing success of The Sound of Music, securing the rights of a long lost work by Stravinsky last year and immediately licensing 100+ performances, and the upcoming centennial of Leonard Bernstein with over 1,000 events already announced, are just a few of the countless successes we have enjoyed over the years. The biggest thanks to all composers and catalogue owners who committed to us and experienced the great people working for Imagem and 'making the difference.' I think that Concord Bicycle, being a true independent, is a wonderful new home for Imagem under the leadership of Scott, Steve, and Jake."

The transaction team leader for Concord Bicycle Music was Chief Business Development Officer Steven Salm. Concord Bicycle Music was advised by Lisbeth R. Barron and Barron International Group, LLC and ReEd Smith LLP. Imagem was advised by David Dunn and Robert Law of Shot Tower Capital and Venable LLP.