BMG Is Number One Music Publisher In Germany

Rights management company BMG has reached a new milestone with official industry figures showing it was the most successful music publisher in Germany in the first six months of 2014 with a 20.86% share of the singles charts, according to research company GfK Entertainment. This was enough for it to overtake the established “major” music publishers to take the Number One spot. In the same period of 2013 BMG’s chart share was 11.52%.

It is the first time that BMG, founded just over five years ago, has been Number One publisher in a major territory.

BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said, “This is the latest in a continuing series of milestones for BMG as we realize our vision of creating a new kind of artist-centric company. When we launched in 2008, some doubted whether we could compete with the established majors. We have shown that by offering writers and artists exemplary service, an international network and a commitment to help them develop their careers we can indeed compete at the highest level.”

Significantly, although BMG Germany scored strongly with international repertoire such as ‘Waves (Robin Schulz Remix)’ by Mr. Probz (twelve weeks in the Top 5 with more than 500,000 sold units) and ‘Dark Horse’ by Katy Perry feat. BMG songwriter Juicy J (eleven weeks in the Top 10 with more than 250,000 units sold) two-thirds of its success in 2014 came from local writers:

* Rapper Kollegah, signed to BMG alongside his co-writers Kai Engelmann and Phillip Herwig, who at one stage this year had 18 tracks simultaneously in the German Top 100;
* Andreas Bourani, and his co-writer Tom Olbrich, whose Number One hit ‘Auf Uns’ has sold 250,000 units and spent eight weeks in the Top 5;
* Adam Kesselhaut, who co-wrote Germany’s contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 – ‘Is It Right’ by Elaiza, which has sold 160,000 units and spent six weeks in the Top 10;
* Adel Tawil and his co-writer Sebastian Kirchner, whose ‘Lieder’ has sold 250,000 units and spent seven weeks in the Top 10;
* and producer team The Krauts, co-writers of Marteria’s ‘Kids (2 Finger an den Kopf)’ which has sold almost 200,000 units and spent nine weeks in the Top 20.

Hartwig Masuch paid tribute to the work of BMG Germany, headed by Managing Director Maik Pallasch. “Maik and his team deserve utmost credit for their achievement,” he said.

Maik Pallasch said, “Contemporary music in Germany is going through an unprecedented period of creativity. We are delighted that so many emerging writers and artists are choosing BMG as their business partner.”

Source: BMG