The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organisation which, you might be surprised to learn, represents the interests of the estates of the legendary musical making duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, is reportedly in talks with all of the major music publishing firms regarding the sale of the copyrights in all the duo's music, including hit musicals like 'The Sound of Music', 'The King And I' and 'South Pacific'. By my math, with Rodgers dieing in 1979, there's at least 36 years to go on these copyrights.
EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner's publishing divisions are all said to be considering a bid, and they may face competition from those private equity types that have been trying to get into the music publishing business of late.