Spirit buys Townshend song catalogue
Independent publisher Spirit Music Group has acquired one of the greatest song collections in UK rock history after buying Who co-founder Pete Townshend’s entire catalogue.
The deal gives Spirit control of countless classic songs penned by Townshend, including Pinball Wizard, Who Are You and Won’t Get Fooled Again, while it has also entered into a partnership with the legendary songwriter and musician to promote the catalogue globally.
Townshend and Spirit CEO Mark Fried put together the deal over the past year with what Spirit said was the specific aim of fostering proactive collaboration between the artist, his management team at Trinifold, his record company Universal, the original publisher of his earliest songs TRO and Sprit’s global marketing team.
As part of the agreement Townshend has signed a multi-year consultancy deal with Spirit in which he will collaborate on promoting the catalogue through the likes of film, TV, advertising and online licensing as well as exploring strategic brand partnerships. This could include working with consumer companies and developing musical stage shows.
Spirit, which has previously struck deals for song catalogues by the likes of Lou Reed, T.Rex and Chaka Khan, will also look after any future works written by Townshend, including songs for solo and Who projects and his next musical dramatic project called Floss.
Fried said: “The songs of Pete Townshend are the soundtrack of our lives. They’ve been a mirror to decades of cultural growth and change, challenging our sensibilities, inspiring engagement and forever redefining rock and roll song craft and musicianship. We’re thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to work closely with Pete in the caretaking and promotion of his life’s work, and to help inspire his future successes.”
Townshend said he was very excited about his new relationship with Fried and his team at Spirit.
“I feel that my song catalogue is at last consolidated with one guiding company, and I’m optimistic that Spirit will keep my music in the public mind,” he noted. “Further, the deal provides me with the resources to start all over again in my creative career – most songwriters don’t get this kind of opportunity, a chance of creative renaissance. I am passionately committed to new projects for rock and for music theatre and I can’t imagine a better company with which to be building a new creative life for myself.”
Bill Curbishley and Robert Rosenberg of Trinifold Management added: “We are delighted to be starting a long relationship with Mark and Spirit Music. We feel that they will be of great benefit to Pete’s work both past and future, will focus not only on better known songs but also on the wealth of lesser known gems and prove to be an invaluable creative partner for Pete in his upcoming projects.”
David Cunningham, partner of Pegasus Capital Advisors, said: “The acquisition of the collective works of Pete Townshend marks a milestone in the evolution of Spirit, our music publishing partner. Winning the trust of one of rock’s most innovative and influential icons is a complete validation of Spirit’s long history of investing in iconic copyrights and partnering with their creators in promoting their legacies. We look forward to what should be a very exciting year for the company.”
Source: Music Week
