WCM Teams Up With Analog Metaverse
• Warner Chappell Music (WCM) announced its new partnership with Analog Metaverse, a boutique rights management company and music publisher, founded by Grammy-Award winning record producer and music executive, Salaam Remi. As part of the deal, WCM will jointly administer the majority of the company’s expansive catalog, including the works of Remi himself, as well as Dennis Brown, Don Blackman, Bobby “Digital” Dixon, and Terri Walker.
The growing Analog Metaverse catalog — thoughtfully curated over the last two years by Remi and his team — Kwame Kandekore (Head of Legal & Business Affairs) and Josephine Westphal (VP of Royalties and Administration) — features more than 2,000 songs, including “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys, “Money In My Pocket” & “Revolution” by Dennis Brown, “All I Want Is You” by Miguel and J. Cole, “Fu-Gee-La,” by The Fugees, and “Here Comes the Hotstepper” by Ini Kamoze, which (thanks to its recent inclusion in a national Starbucks campaign) re-peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes Reggae Songs Chart, among many others. The catalog also includes “Stronger Than Me” by Amy Winehouse and Remi’s eight other co-writes with Winehouse, the most co-writes of any other collaborator.
Remi commented, “Having the benefit of being a songwriter and publisher myself, I fully understand the importance of having partners who not only appreciate the wonderful creations of the icons from the last few generations but also can help us carry them into the future. My Analog Metaverse team — Kwame, Josephine, and I — recognize how valuable partners like [WCM Co-Chair/CEO] Guy Moot and the entire Warner Chappell team are in shepherding these classics to new audiences.” That’s Remi (above, left), and WCM’s Guy Moot.
Moot added, “I’ve personally known Salaam for more than three decades, and it’s such an honor to be entrusted to shepherd not only his own life’s work, but that of legends like Dennis Brown. [WCM Co-Chair/COO] Carianne [Marshall] and I are very intentional about the catalogs we work with, and really think about how we can grow and tend to them, both today and for the years to come. There’s a lot of synergy between our approach and Analog Metaverse’s mission, and it’s great to be joining forces to help writers and their estates realize their full potential.” [Photo Courtesy of MBW]
