Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, represented BMG Rights Management, one of the top five music publishing companies in the world, in all aspects of its multi-million dollar acquisition of the recorded music and music publishing catalogs of Verse Music Group LLC, including the seminal Salsoul Records, Bethlehem Records and West End Records catalogs. The transaction closed in June 2015.
The deal gives BMG rights to songs and recordings performed by artists like Rod Stewart, Jennifer Lopez, and the Salsoul Records catalog of disco era recordings that are still sampled regularly by top pop and hip-hop artists such as Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue, Kanye West and Wu-Tang Clan. The acquisition includes many other influential sounds in popular music history, including audio recordings of the classic Golden Books children's stories recorded by personalities as diverse as Danny Kaye and Susan Sarandon, the legendary Bethlehem Jazz catalog recorded in the 1950's and featuring Nina Simone's first album and other classic offerings from Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Mel Torme and hundreds of others.
Akerman lawyers conducted legal due diligence as well as drafting and negotiating the asset purchase agreement and ancillary transaction documents. The Akerman team was led by partners Ross Charap and Matthew Finkelstein. Additional lawyers involved in the deal included partner Brett Marks, of counsel Rachel Rudensky, and associates Brice Dumais, Sean Coyle, Amy Price and Erica Stallings. The team collaborated successfully to close the deal in about half the time as typically needed for similar deals.
This acquisition is the latest example of the dozens of multi-million dollar transactions in which members of our Intellectual Property Practice Group have represented clients in buying and selling music assets.
About Akerman LLP
Akerman LLP is a leading transactions and trial law firm known for its core strengths in middle market M&A, within the financial services and real estate industries, and for a diverse Latin America practice. With more than 600 lawyers and government affairs professionals and a network of 20 offices, it is ranked among the top 100 law firms in the United States by The American Lawyer (2015) and The National Law Journal NLJ 350 (2015). Akerman also is ranked among the top 50 law firms for diversity in The American Lawyer's Diversity Scorecard (2015).
Akerman's Intellectual Property Practice Group serves clients worldwide in all areas of intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and the Internet. Ranked nationally by U.S. News – Best Lawyers in Litigation – Intellectual Property, Akerman lawyers handle complex and high-profile cases spanning a range of industries, including sports and entertainment, fashion and retail, consumer electronics and technology, pharmaceutical and medical devices, and financial services, among others.
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