Warner/Chappell Music Named BMI's 'Urban Music Publisher of the Year'
NEW YORK, NY, Aug 31, 2006 -- Warner/Chappell Music, the publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG), and one of the world's largest music publishers, was named 'Publisher of the Year' at BMI's 6th Annual Urban Music Awards in New York City on Wednesday. The award ceremony recognized the songwriters, publishers and producers of the top BMI urban songs played on American radio and television and marks the first time that Warner/Chappell has won this award.
"This award is industry recognition of Warner/Chappell's reemergence, strength and presence in urban music, a genre of music that influences fashion, dance and other aspects of popular culture," said Richard Blackstone, Chairman and CEO, Warner/Chappell Music. "We are delighted to receive this award from BMI, and we are extremely proud that Warner/Chappell's talented songwriters are writing many of hip-hop, rap and R&B's biggest hits."
"Two years ago, Warner/Chappell had practically taken itself out of the new urban market," said Christopher Hicks, Vice President A&R Urban, Warner/Chappell Music. "The arrival of new leadership at Warner/Chappell brought a renewed commitment and greater energy and resources dedicated to the urban genre, as well as to developing writers and building dominance in the urban market. We are extremely satisfied with this recognition of the important progress we have made and the momentum we now have as a leading publisher of urban music. This award is an indication of where Warner/Chappell is going and where we intend to stay."
Warner/Chappell's re-emergence as a power player in urban music began with a Grammy Award-winning Warner/Chappell writer co-writing the No. 1 charting songs "Burn" and "Confessions Pt. 2" (Bryan Michael Cox) from Usher's "Confessions" album. Those achievements were followed by Warner/Chappell writer contributions to No. 1 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart from Fat Joe ("Lean Back"), Ciara ("Goodies"), Mariah Carey ("We Belong Together" and "Don't Forget About Us"), Bow Wow featuring Ciara ("Like You") and Kanye West ("Golddigger").
"Achieving this kind of success doesn't happen overnight," said Blackstone, "and building on that success comes through the patient execution of a sound strategy. At Warner/Chappell, we believe that we now have the right team in place to execute our strategy of signing marquee artists, developing promising young writers, and exploiting our vast and diverse catalog. While there is still much work to be done, we are well on our way toward accomplishing our goal of being the No. 1 destination for Urban writers."
This award comes at a moment when Warner/Chappell's increasing dominance in urban music is being demonstrated through the recent hit singles:
* "Be Without You" (songwriter Bryan Michael Cox) * "What U Know" (songwriter T.I.) * "It's Goin' Down," (songwriter Yung Joc) * "Crazy," (songwriter Cee-Lo Green) * "Promiscuous" (songwriter Timbaland & Danjahandz) * "Torn" (songwriters Teddy Bishop and Dave Young) * "Shoulder Lean" (songwriters Young Dro & T.I.) * "Why U Wanna," (songwriter T.I.) * "Entourage" (songwriter Eric Hudson) * "Hustlin'" (songwriter Rick Ross) * "Do It" (songwriter Don Vito)
"One of Warner/Chappell's strengths lies in how closely we work with our affiliate record labels. We are willing to employ every resource available to us within the Warner Music Group for the benefit of our writers and our Company," says Hicks.
Warner/Chappell's successful strategy is reflected in its interests in numerous chart-topping songs on Billboard's urban charts, including Ciara's "One, Two Step" and "Get Up," Pretty Ricky's "Grind With Me," Mike Jones' "Still Tippin'," Trillville's "Some Cut," Mariah Carey's "Shake it Off," Nelly's "Grills," Ludacris' "Pimipin' All Over the World," and D4L's "Laffy Taffy." Warner/Chappell also had significant participation in a string of No. 1 debuting albums on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart over the last year including albums from Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Lil' Wayne, T.I., india.arie, Donnell Jones, LeToya and Yung Joc.
This recent string of hits has earned Warner/Chappell a reputation for identifying and developing some of the industry's most exciting new songwriters and providing them with the opportunity to collaborate on several high profile projects. Warner/Chappell solicited and placed four songs on Mariah Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi" album, five songs on Mary J. Blige's "Breakthrough" album. In addition, Warner/Chappell participates in all but two songs on LeToya's album which recently debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart.
Warner/Chappell's U.S. roster of talented urban writers includes: Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Bryan Michael Cox, T.I., Jazzy Pha, Kay Gee, Danjahandz, Lil Wayne, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Fat Joe, Yung Joc, Fabo, Trillville, JUSTICE League, Rockwilder, Young Dro, Dave Young, Don Cannon, Teddy Bishop, Drumma Boy, Zak Wallace, Eric Hudson, india.arie, Don Vito, Donnell Jones and others. Warner/Chappell is proud to work closely and have cooperative relationships with Noontime Music, Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Grand Hustle Publishing, Swishahouse Publishing and Block Entertainment.
Founded in 1939, BMI is an American performing rights organization representing more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. BMI collects license fees on behalf of those American creators it represents, as well as thousands of creators from around the world who chose BMI for representation in the United States. The license fees BMI collects for the "public performances" of its repertoire of more than 6.5 million compositions -- including radio airplay, broadcast and cable television carriage, Internet and live and recorded performances by all other users of music-are distributed as royalties to the writers, composers and copyright holders it represents.
About Warner/Chappell Music
Warner/Chappell Music is WMG's award-winning global music publishing company. The Warner/Chappell Music catalog includes standards such as "Happy Birthday To You," "Rhapsody in Blue," "Winter Wonderland," the songs of Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin, as well as the music of Dido, Dr. Dre, Eric Clapton, Green Day, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Nickelback, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sheryl Crow, T.I. and others. Warner/Chappell Music is a leader in creating innovative strategies for marketing and promoting its songwriters and their music. The company's extensive catalog makes it a natural first stop for A&R executives and record producers, feature film and television production companies, and others looking to record or license some of the world's greatest music.