The Publishers' Place: Indie Resilience

Independent publishers can be so resilient. As the music industry shifts its business models, Espy Music and Wixen Music Publishing are shining examples of companies that continue to thrive while adjusting to the challenges of today.

"Over the last 30 years we've reinvented ourselves several times," Ronda Espy says. She and husband Kim Espy were based in Los Angeles for many years, working through Bob-a-Lew Music as well as Espy Music. Their major hits were written by Huey Lewis, Bonnie Raitt and Bruce Hornsby. These writers have since moved on, but some of their songs are still part of the catalog.

Last year Ronda and Kim moved to Austin. "We thought this would be kind of a winding down, but once we got here we found that it was energizing to be in the Austin area. We're working as hard or harder than we ever have, but it's with a different mind-set."

When they first started out in the 1970s, Ronda says they spent a lot of face-time with people. Songwriters would come into their office, play new songs and ask their opinions. Then as publishers they traveled around Los Angeles. "You could spend every week at appointments playing music for producers, A&R guys—for people who were in the studio looking for outside material."

For the Texas natives, moving to Austin gave them a momentary pause. "We worried that maybe some of our clients like Tower of Power would say, 'Well, they moved to Timbuktu.' But we didn't get one negative from anybody," Kim says. Today there is much less of a need to meet with people in person, so they can be located just about anywhere.

Although they primarily administer their writers' catalogs, the Espys say they also look for other ways to promote music. Kim plans to begin searching next year for young Austin bands to help develop. Although record deals are hard to land, he sees the Internet as a place filled with opportunities.

The Espys already work with some Austin-based writers, including Grammy Award winner Ray Benson with Asleep at the Wheel, world-renowned fiddler Johnny Gimble and singer/pianist Marcia Ball. Other writers include Phil Everly, Eric Burdon and Rita Coolidge.

Ronda has also become more involved in music supervision, working with daughter Mindy Espy (Carmel Enterprises in Los Angeles) on an indie film expected out next spring. "Music supervision gives us the first opportunity to look within our catalogs," Ronda says. "It's just more exposure for the catalog and it keeps us in the loop with others in the industry."

Randall Wixen with Calabasas, Calif.-based Wixen Music Publishing takes a different approach to administration, focusing primarily on the numbers. With more than a dozen employees, he looks for errors in royalty statements and has his "professional squeaky wheels" collect the differences.

"We go through statements very closely, and the errors pay for themselves," Wixen says. "The disparity from what a songwriter has earned and the amount that has been paid is easier to exploit profitably [for a publisher] than generating new activity."

When record labels calculate mechanical royalties, for example, they may be rounding down a portion of a cent when they should be rounding it up. "If we find one-tenth of a cent error on 30,000 records, administering for that writer [at a 10% administration fee] won't pay for itself. But on 14 million copies, and each rounded down one-tenth of a cent [by a label], there can be hundreds of thousands of dollars due."

As a result, Wixen says he typically represents songwriters whose publishing brings in more than $100,000 annually. A search on the ASCAP Web site shows that he handles administration for such writer/artists as Tom Petty and the Doors.

Wixen also is handling the bankruptcy sale of the M.C. Hammer catalog. After Hammer's accountant called on him to straighten out the catalog, he says the bankruptcy judge appointed his company to handle the sale next year.



BYE-BYE, BEEBE: Publisher Beebe Bourne passed away Nov. 1. We just met last year, but in such a short time she truly touched my heart. It was obvious how much she loved her work. When we talked about publishing, it also became clear that she hoped I would continually impress upon indie publishers the importance of two things in particular: the Assn. of Independent Music Publishers and an understanding of international publishing. I will do my best, Beebe. ••••