Windswept Steps Up New Business: Company Moves Beyond Catalog Sale, Expands Signings

NEW YORK-There's plenty of life and future left at Windswept Holdings L.L.C., which last July sold the bulk of its catalog to EMI Music Publishing for a reported $200 million.
For one thing, says Los Angeles-based CEO Evan Medow, the company's Japanese parent, Fujipacific, has injected some $50 million in new funding to the company. Along with new writer and catalog deals, there will be a broader relationship with Hitco, Windswept's joint venture with writer/producer Antonio "L.A." Reid.
Although Windswept sold many valuable early rock'n'roll copyrights from the '50s and early '60s-an in-demand commodity these days-Medow notes that in holding on to some 10,000 songs, "we retained a deep basket of really strong assets out of the sale, providing us with a strong foundation on which to build. We have been able to maintain a viable business and are not just a start-up company, with all the inherent problems that start-up companies have. Most importantly, we have a staff that built the old company who are looking forward to doing it again."
As part of its catalog sale to EMI Music, Windswept retained all of its active writer deals and their catalogs; all of Windswept's ventures, including Hitco; and all of the company's subpublishing and administration deals in the U.S. and U.K. These include the catalogs of Burt Bacharach, Steve Miller, the Who's Pete Townshend, Mute Song (U.K.), and Gallo Music (South Africa), among others. Fujipacific was also appointed to manage the EMI catalog in Japan on a long-term basis.
As for staffers, Medow says the company is now one-third owned by its management team.
In addition to Medow, the management and creative team consists of Jonathan Stone, the newly appointed president of Windswept U.S. who was formerly senior VP/GM; Bob Grace, managing director of Windswept U.K.; John Anderson, VP of film/TV; Debby Gill, VP of creative affairs, domestic/international; Peter McCamely, VP of creative, Windswept U.K.; Steve Markland, senior director of creative, Nashville; and Cecil Chambers, senior director of creative, urban, who was previously a manager.
In addition, Atlanta-based Hitco extended its agreement with VP/GM Shakir Stewart.
Nashville is the source of several new deals as part of the expansion of operations there. Now under the Windswept Nashville umbrella are David Corley's Kicking Bird Music and Bud Dog Music, which includes the catalog of Keith Follese, whose songs have been recorded by Lonestar, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill. In a co-publishing venture in Nashville, Windswept is now tied in with McGraw's and manager Scott Simon's publishing companies.
In pop, Windswept has made a North American administration deal with producer Steve Mac (Westlife, Boyzone) and publishing deals with Sol (DreamWorks), writer/producer Jimmy Thomas (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony), and Mike Elizondo (who is working with Eminem) and a joint venture with Grammy-winning writer/producer She'kspere (Kevin Briggs).
Also, producer John Atterberry has a joint venture with Windswept involving writers Heather Holley, Mischke Butler, and Jeremy Paul.
In the U.K., Windswept has signed Atomic Kittens, Craig David, Mereo, and Electrasy, heard on Arista Records in the U.S.
As for the rash of mega-publisher mergers that Windswept has itself helped along, Medow says, "They're not a bad thing for companies like Windswept. Our stock in trade is the kind of service that we can offer and provide-personal attention. I personally think this is a good time to be an independent publisher."