SONY DENIES SALE OF MUSIC PUBLISHING BUSINESS

SONY Corporation has no plans to sell the music publishing business that controls rights to songs from the Beatles and Taylor Swift, as was suggested by leaked e-mails, Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton said.

Sony’s music-publishing business — the largest in the world — has a catalogue of more than 2-million songs.

Publishers collect songwriting royalties from album sales, use on TV and other performances.

E-mails and documents released in the cyber-attack on Sony mentioned a "top secret" plan to sell the music publishing business because it had few growth prospects, Bloomberg News reported last month.

Top management at Tokyo-based Sony was concerned about the complex ownership and governance of the business.

Mr Lynton said last week a sale is not under consideration.

Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton

Music publishing accounts for 14% of Sony’s music revenue, with recorded music generating the larger part. The business includes Sony-ATV Music Publishing, a joint venture with the estate of Michael Jackson, and EMI Music Publishing, in which Sony has a 30% stake.

Sony-ATV CEO Martin Bandier said he has been advised by Sony Corporation that the venture was not for sale, the New York Post reported.

Sony-ATV was established in 1995 in partnership with Jackson, who had acquired rights to the Beatles songs a decade earlier.

In 2012, Sony paid $2.2bn for the larger EMI Music Publishing, along with investors including Jackson’s estate, Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners, entertainment mogul David Geffen and Mubadala Development, owned by the Abu Dhabi government. Sony-ATV administers EMI on behalf of the investors. Sony and Jackson’s estate each own half of Sony-ATV.