SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING RETURNS WITH A ‘MODERN VISION’ – VIA A RE-BRAND OF SONY/ATV
The world’s biggest music publishing company is no longer called Sony/ATV. It’s now Sony Music Publishing. The re-brand of the US-headquartered pub co sees the Sony Music Publishing name return for the first time in over two decades, complete with a new logo. The move marks 25 years since Sony/ATV was first established in 1995 through a joint venture with Michael Jackson. That merger brought together the original Sony Music Publishing with Jackson’s ATV Music, which the late artist acquired in an astonishingly smart buy for just $47.5m in 1985. (ATV owned the Northern Songs catalog, including the majority of Lennon/McCartney songs written for The Beatles.) A process of modern unification at Sony Music Publishing began in 2016, when Sony acquired the Michael Jackson estate’s 50% share of Sony/ATV for $750m, making it a wholly owned Sony company. In 2018, Sony further consolidated its position at the largest music publisher – and further simplified its structure – via the purchase ...