ABKCO Respond To Rolling Stones' Jagger and Richards BMG Deal ::Rolling Stones News ::antiMusic.com

ABKCO Respond To Rolling Stones' Jagger and Richards BMG Deal

06/27/2013
. No sooner had BMG announced that they have reached a deal to represent Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' music catalog than ABKCO sent out a statement clarifying that they still represent the legendary rockers' classic catalog from 1963 through 1971.

The new BMG deal will cover Jaggar and Richard's post 1983 music publishing catalog while EMI Music Publishing handles the catalog from 1971-1983 and ABKCO has the prolific period between 1963 and 1971.

The Hollywood Reporter published an article that stated that BMG will also "be responsible for handling Jagger and Richards' shares of their pre-1983 copyrights" but ABKCO was quick to issue a statement of their own which seems to contradict that report. (Hollywood Reporter later updated their report with the ABKCO statement.

The statement says that ABKCO Music, Inc. wishes to reiterate that ABKCO, and ABKCO alone, owns and controls 100% of the worldwide copyright to the original 1963-1971 publishing catalog of Jagger/Richards Rolling Stones compositions.

ABKCO CEO Jody Klein stated that the BMG announcement "has no relevance whatsoever to ABKCO's ongoing role in its ownership or control of all existing copyrights, including such seminal titles as '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', 'Brown Sugar', 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' and others from that period as has been the case for more than 40 years."

"We wish BMG all the best with their new endeavor but it must be noted that ABKCO, a wholly owned independent entertainment company, remains the sole source of rights and licensing for these compositions along with the corresponding master recordings by The Rolling Stones. It is unfortunate that BMG's statement may have led some to conclude otherwise."