NEW YORK, NY (February 6, 2015) – Spirit Music Group has acquired the music publishing assets of West Main Music, a leading independent Christian/Contemporary Praise & Worship publishing catalog.
The West Main song catalog features leading Christian music songwriters, including Jason Ingram (SESAC’s 2007 Christian Songwriter of the Year award recipient, co-writer of Bebo Norman’s “I Will Lift My Eyes,” Salvador’s “Shine,” Chris Tomlin’s “White Flag,” and member of One Sonic Society); Stuart Garrad (Stu G, Delirious?, and One Sonic Society); and Paul Mabury (One Sonic Society, noted Hillsong UNITED drummer), to name a few.
“We are pleased to add these leading Christian music songs to the Spirit Music family as we continue to accelerate Spirit’s growth,” said David Renzer, Chairman, Spirit Music Group.
The company’s assets in the Christian/gospel sector include a catalog made up of some of the most significant Christian Worship songs and Christian Contemporary hits, including “Forever Reign” a contemporary Christian worship song originally by the collective One Sonic Society and Hillsong which has gone on to be covered by several artists and is currently No. 4 on CCLI; “Never Once” co-written by Jason Ingram and recorded by Matt Redman; and “Help Me Find It” co-written by Jason Ingram and recorded by The Sidewalk Prophets.
The acquisition is part of Spirit’s aggressive expansion plan. In July of last year, Spirit Music Group announced its acquisition of Cal IV Entertainment — the established and successful Nashville-based independent music publisher, production, and artist management company. The move marked Spirit’s first official presence on Music Row, bringing top writers, artists, and staff into the fold along with 25 number one copyrights and top ten singles.
ABOUT SPIRIT MUSIC:
Spirit Music Group, founded in 1995, is one of the world’s leading independent music publishers, owning and/or managing more than 75,000 songs spanning seven decades and every musical genre. The company’s repertoire reflects some of the most beloved songs and songwriters of all time, including hits by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Charles Mingus, Dion, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Santana, The Beach Boys, Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Alice Cooper, Pure Prairie League, Chicago, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, The Go-Go’s, Madonna, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Ricky Martin, Keith Urban, Usher, Dido, Jewel, Jason Aldean and Mary J. Blige; the complete catalogs of such iconic songwriters and writer/artists as Pete Townshend, Marc Bolan, Boz Scaggs, The Marshall Tucker Band, Toto, Billy Squier, Andrea Bocelli, Charles Mingus, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Rick Nowels, C&C Music Factory; and the breakthrough work of such newer artists as Scissor Sisters, The Naked & Famous, Matt & Kim, San Cisco, Zooey Deschanel, Eric Paslay, and Big Data.
Spirit has earned a strong reputation as an aggressive royalty administrator and a peerless promoter of its songs into film, television and advertising productions as well as a wide range of new media. In recent years, Spirit has helped transform the publisher’s role beyond royalty collection and song promotion to proactive career and legacy partnership by creating and executing marketing plans to revitalize its clients’ songs and expand their brands.
Spirit Music Group is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Los Angeles, Nashville and the Netherlands. Spirit is a portfolio company of Pegasus Capital Advisors, the New York-based private equity fund manager that has been providing creative capital and strategic solutions to growth companies since 1996.
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SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP MEDIA CONTACT:
Heather Glenn
Black Market Creative
310.765.1927 x707 ph
Hglenn@blackmarketcreative.com
