Imagem
 | |
| Founded | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Netherlands |
| Headquarters location | Hilversum and London |
| Key people | André de Raaff, Denis Wigman, John Minch |
| Official website |
imagem |
Imagem Music Group was founded in 2008 by Dutch firm Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, one of the world's largest pension funds, in conjunction with Dutch independent publisher/media company CP Masters BV. It began by acquiring music publishing rights in a number of catalogues sold by Universal Music Publishing Group, such as Rondor, Zomba, BBC and 19 Music; the sale was worth 140 million euros (US$221.5M as of April 2008).[1] These were sold by Universal after the European Commission ordered the sell-off as a condition of its merger with BMG's publishing arm. This was followed by acquiring the world's leading classical music publishing company Boosey & Hawkes (which includes the catalogues of Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britten, and Aaron Copland), and Rodgers & Hammerstein, containing the rights to stage and film musicals, and representing hundreds of works by writers including Irving Berlin.
Highlights from Imagem's pop catalogue include Nik Kershaw, Phil Collins, Genesis, The Temper Trap, M.I.A., Pink Floyd,[2] Vampire Weekend, and Daft Punk. Imagem has offices in the Netherlands, London, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, and Brussels.
Boosey and Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes was sold to Imagem in April 2008 for £126m by its private equity owner, HgCapital. The sale was one of the world's largest of classical music. Hg Capital took Boosey & Hawkes off the stock exchange in 2003 for £75m. Under its ownership, the group made six acquisitions in new areas like tango and jazz. Revenues from supplying music for advertising and film were increased, and printing and distribution outsourced.[3]
Boosey & Hawkes controls the rights to 116,000 works of music and choreography including pieces by Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. Steve Reich is among the living composers on its roster.
Rodgers and Hammerstein
In 2009, the estates of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II sold the rights to songs and musicals, including South Pacific, The Sound of Music and Oklahoma!, to Imagem Music Group. The sale transferred power over one of America's most famous song catalogs and the licensing rights for future productions of the musicals, which had been controlled by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, a Manhattan-based company.
As part of the deal, Imagem acquired the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and retained its management. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization represents the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber in North America.[4]
