Warner/Chappell Music (WCM), the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp., has acquired production music library company Non-Stop Music, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Ut., and with offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. Purchase price was not disclosed.
The move enhances WCM’s presence in a fast-growing, high-margin segment of the music publishing business and underscores the importance of film, television, Internet and corporate outlets to the music publishing industry. WCM will immediately begin joint marketing of the Non-Stop library and Warner/Chappell’s other musical properties to an expanded base of synchronization customers.
Formed in 1981, Non-Stop Music has built a library of more than 35,000 song titles that it licenses to film, television, Internet and corporate clients. Non-Stop also operates its own state-of-the-art recording studio and has a stable of musicians it draws upon to compose original film scores, music for film trailers, television theme songs, theme music for corporate films and commercial jingles and scores.
“We are thrilled to have this chance to expand WCM’s vibrant synchronization business with this exciting acquisition,” stated Dave Johnson, CEO of Warner/Chappell. “Publishing has been one of the most stable areas of the music industry in recent years and with the rapid proliferation and ubiquity of traditional and digital media, this deal is an essential part of our strategy to create a more robust revenue stream.”
“This is truly one of the brightest moments in our 26-year ride in the production music library business,” said Randy Thornton who cofounded Non-Stop with Bryan Hofheins and Mike Dowdle. This trio will continue to run Non-Stop, but as a division of WCM–and will directly report to Johnson.
Dowdle, who has been named CEO of WCM’s new production music library division, related, “We look forward to building WCM’s production music business on Non-Stop’s solid foundation, through organic growth and additional acquisitions. WCM is the perfect partner with whom to make a truly global impact in the production music industry.”
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More