Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Imagem announces alliance with Apple Publishing

By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 2 June 2015

Despite having written about Imagem since its very inception – back in the days of Universal being forced to sell off song catalogues by European regulators (ah, happy days, there should be more forced catalogue sell offs) – it was only when I found myself moderating a panel with someone who works there a couple of months back that I realised I had no idea how to say the company’s name. Though the smirks amongst my fellow panellists after I attempted to say it suggested I got it wrong. So I just looked it up. And from this point onwards I shall be referring to this publisher as Eeee-marrr-kkkkem, just so I remember next time.

Which brings us to the news that Eeee-marrr-kkkkem has signed a global deal with Apple Publishing, the music publisher that grew out of Beatles company Apple Corps. The most high profile copyrights in the Apple catalogue (which never included the lucrative Beatles songs) relate to the oeuvre of 1970s rock band Badfinger. That includes the band’s big hit ‘Baby Blue’ which, you might remember, enjoyed a resurgence recently when it was used in the final moments of the final episode of ‘Breaking Bad’ as Walter White lay dying after… oh, hang on, spoiler alert, spoiler alert. And anyway, another Badfinger track, ‘Without You’ is actually more lucrative, due to the many many covers of it.

Confirming his company’s new alliance with the Apple publishing firm, Eeee-marrr-kkkkem CEO John Minch told reporters: “Apple Publishing has some wonderful copyrights from a golden era of songwriting. To partner with Apple is a real privilege, and we look forward to working this catalogue globally. We will really give these songs our love and attention”.