Concord Music Acquires Tams-Witmark Music Library

Concord Music just announced today that it has acquired the celebrated Tams-Witmark Music Library, underscoring the company's commitment to continuing expansion of its musical theater franchise.

Concord welcomes Tams-Witmark alongside its investments in The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, The Musical Company joint venture with The Really Useful Group, and the Marvin Hamlisch theatrical legacy. Longtime Tams-Witmark President Sarge Aborn will continue to care for and cultivate the company's catalog of shows, as he has for the 36 years that he has been with the company.

Founded in 1925, Tams-Witmark is a family business and has been a leader in the theatrical licensing industry with thousands of shows performed each year. The company represents some of the best and most popular musical theatre shows available for public performance with over 120 titles from acclaimed writers such as Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Cy Coleman, and Jule Styne. With shows such as ANYTHING GOES, BYE BYE BIRDIE, YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, THE WIZARD OF OZ, CRAZY FOR YOU, 42ND STREET, and GYPSY that can be licensed by professional and amateur theatres internationally, Tams-Witmark works tirelessly to ensure that musical theatre will remain a permanent part of world culture.

Concord Music's Chief Publishing Executive, Jake Wisely comments, "Sarge and the team at Tams have stood with Concord from the inception of our theatrical music business, which began with Marvin Hamlisch's music to A CHORUS LINE and now includes rights to an astonishing array of musicals and legendary composers. It only seems appropriate that we now get to collaborate in Concord's development of a world class theatrical company, in lockstep with our thriving publishing and recorded music businesses."

Sarge Aborn states, "After functioning as a family business for four generations, we would entrust our legacy only to a company with vision, a strong commitment to musical theatre and an appreciation of our brand. We found all of those qualities in Concord. I am very excited that Tams-Witmark will be under the same umbrella as The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, and that Tams will have an association with The Musical Company. I see a bright future for Tams-Witmark enriched by the energy and enthusiasm of Steve, Scott and Jake, and I am proud to be a part of it. I want to thank Lisbeth Barron for introducing us to Concord and for guiding us through this process."

"As we expand our theatrical licensing business, I can think of no better person to have on our team than Sarge Aborn," says Concord Music CEO Scott Pascucci. "His unmatched knowledge and experience will be integral in maintaining and building upon the already wonderful catalog of Tams-Witmark. We are very happy to welcome the Tams-Witmark team into our family."

The Tams-Witmark acquisition was managed and negotiated for Concord Music by Steven Salm, Chief Business Development Officer and Barron International Group, LLC, the exclusive financial advisor to Tams-Witmark in this transaction.

Concord Music is the independent, worldwide leader in the development, acquisition, and management of recorded music, music publishing, and theatrical performance rights. With offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, London, Berlin, and Cleveland, Concord Music has a diverse and vibrant roster of active recording artists, composers, and songwriters, and a vast and historic catalog of works by some of the most treasured names in music history.

Concord Music's master recording portfolio contains more than 10,000 active albums and includes no less than 264 GRAMMY® winners (representing approximately 6.25% of all the Grammys ever awarded) and 405 titles that have been certified by the RIAA as either gold, platinum, multi-platinum or diamond. Concord Music's active labels - Concord Records, Fantasy Records, Fearless Records, Loma Vista Recordings, Razor & Tie (including the dynamic Kidz Bop brand), and Rounder Records - collectively release more than 100 new recordings per year across many musical genres. Concord Music's historical labels, which are managed by its Craft Recordings team, include such storied imprints as Milestone, Musart, Nitro, Pablo, Prestige, Riverside, Savoy, Specialty, Stax, Telarc, Vee-Jay, and Wind-up.

Concord Music's publishing business was transformed in 2017 when it acquired Imagem Music Group and integrated it with Concord's existing publishing operation, The Bicycle Music Company. This combination resulted in a catalog of over 380,000 copyrighted works, spanning all musical genres and containing many of the world's most celebrated compositions. Concord Music also supports a diverse group of current composers and songwriters who are continually creating important and commercially-successful new musical works. With the Imagem acquisition, Concord Music also added Boosey & Hawkes, the world's leading specialist classical music publisher, and the legendary Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, both of which remain as individual business units under the Concord Music umbrella.

Concord Music is the operating entity of Alchemy Copyrights LLC, an investment company that is owned by Barings Alternative Investments, Sound Investors, and seventy institutional and individual partners, including forty members of Concord Music's management team. At the forefront of intellectual property valuation, acquisition and utilization, the Concord Music investment underscores the partners' belief in the lasting and appreciating global value of superior original entertainment content.

Tams-Witmark Music Library is a premier licensor of classic Broadway musicals. For over 90 years, Tams-Witmark has been licensing some of the greatest shows in musical theatre for amateur and professional productions worldwide. The company's extensive catalog of over 120 titles features timeless scores by legendary writers including Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, and Jule Styne. Tams-Witmark shows have won countless honors, including twenty-one Tony Awards for Best Musical or Best Musical Revival. In schools and theatres across the country, Tams-Witmark shows such as HELLO, DOLLY!, THE WIZARD OF OZ, YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, BYE BYE BIRDIE and ANYTHING GOES continue to entertain audiences in thousands of productions every year. Other celebrated Tams-Witmark hits include A CHORUS LINE, CABARET, CRAZY FOR YOU, DREAMGIRLS, 42ND STREET, GYPSY, HAIR, MAN OF LA MANCHA, and TITANIC.