Publishing Briefs: Boz Scaggs Signs With Concord, Warner Chappell Expands China Presence and More

Concord Music Publishing has signed an exclusive administration agreement with artist and songwriter Boz Scaggs in North America. The deal covers Scaggs’ catalog from 1968 to the present and all his releases going forward.

Scaggs has been releasing music for more than 50 years, with highlights including tracks such as “Lido Shuffle,” “It’s Over,” “What Can I Say” and “Lowdown,” the latter of which won a Grammy for Best R&B song in 1977. His 1976 album, Silk Degrees, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, also featured the song “We’re All Alone,” which became a hit for singer Rita Coolidge the following year.

Scaggs’ most recent album, Out of the Blues, was released in 2018 through Concord Records. It received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

Warner Chappell Music has opened a new office in Shanghai, marking the publisher’s latest expansion into China. The company previously opened an office in Beijing.

“Shanghai has an incredible music scene and many songwriters move here from across China to pursue their careers,” Warner Chappell Music Asia president Monica Lee said in a statement. “The city is also home to many of China’s advertising, brand and entertainment businesses, so it’s the logical place to open our new office that’ll complement our existing presence in Beijing.”

China is a potentially lucrative market for WCM. One of the world’s fastest-growing music markets, the country boasts a number of digital platforms, including KuGou, KuWo, NetEase Cloud Music and QQ Music, many of which drive a substantial amount of revenue from karaoke and live streaming services that utilize publishing rights.

To make further inroads in the country, WCM previously added several top Chinese songwriters and artists to its roster, including Mandarin pop star A-Lin earlier this month. It also reached a deal with Chinese streaming service NetEase Cloud Music in May.

Sony/ATV Nashville has signed Grammy-winning country songwriter Josh Kear to a global publishing agreement.

Known for singles including “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, “God Your Mama and Me” by Florida Georgia Line, “Drunk on a Plane” by Dierks Bentley, “Need You Now” by Lady A and “Drinking Class” by Lee Brice, Kear has earned several multi-platinum certifications and is the only songwriter to win the country song of the year Grammy three times. His songs have additionally been featured in films and TV shows including The Bachelorette, Glee, The Voice, Zero Dark Thirty and Country Strong.

Primary Wave has acquired the publishing catalog and master royalty stream of the Grammy-nominated rock band Godsmack. The global deal includes the publishing and master income stream for all of the group’s compositions and masters to date, as well as all releases moving forward.

Formed in 1995, Godsmack has released a total of seven studio albums, including their self-titled debut and double platinum 2000 follow-up Awake. They’ve additionally enjoyed ten No. 1 singles on Billboard’s mainstream and active rock charts and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 three consecutive times.

Indie publisher Strictly Confidential has announced deal renewals for Balthazar, Soap&Skin and Nada Surf. It also announced a new global publishing deal for Sohnarr, the solo project of Balthazar violin player Patricia Vanneste, who recently released her debut album Coral Dusk on [PIAS].

The Balthazar deal is a global administration agreement that covers the band’s full catalog and go-forward releases. Strictly Confidential’s sync department recently landed the group the title song of the TV series La Trêve.

Nada Surf’s deal is an administration agreement that covers the band’s full catalog and all releases going forward in every territory except North America and Australia. The band’s cover of the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” was recently synced to the new Mugler advertising campaign.

Finally, the deal for Soap&Skin — whose music was recently synced to the Netflix series Dark and a European commercial for Ford Mondeo — is a full global publishing agreement that covers all the artist’s releases going forward.

Oscar-winning Joker composer and cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir has renewed her publishing deal with Wise Music Group. The renewed agreement covers global publishing on all releases going forward and admin on Guðnadóttir’s catalog releases on the Touch label in Ireland and the U.K.

Guðnadóttir, who also won a Grammy and an Emmy for scoring the HBO series Chernobyl, is currently working on a new solo album for the classical music label Deutsche Grammophon. She is also composing for video games. Her previous work includes scoring films and TV series including Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Mary Magdalene, Tom of Finland, Journey’s End (2017) and several episodes of the Icelandic TV show Trapped.

Country songwriter Jonathan Singleton has signed a worldwide deal with Spirit Publishing Nashville that includes a partial catalog acquisition as well as a go-forward co-publishing deal.

The catalog acquisition includes Singleton’s writer’s and publisher’s share of such hit country songs as Luke Combs’ “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” Carly Pearce & Lee Brice’s “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Rascal Flatts’ “Yours if You Want It,” Tyler Farr’s “A Guy Walks Into a Bar” and Scotty McCreery’s “In Between.”