BMG Acquires Talpa Music

IT'S GOT A GREAT BEAT AND YOU CAN EXTRACT ROYALTIES FROM IT: BMG has inked a deal to acquire Talpa Music B.V., a Benelux-based pubco specializing in EDM and featuring such artists as Afrojack, Tiësto, Nicky Romero and Glowinthedark, among others, as well as dance labels Protocol Recordings, Mixmash Records, Be Yourself Music, Black Hole Recordings and Hard With Style. The company's writers have penned songs for Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, David Guetta, Madonna, Will.i.am, Chris Brown, Madonna, Michael Jackson and more. The company, founded by Dutch publisher Tony Berk and media entrepreneur John de Mol, owns more than 37k songs outright and administers some 500k more. Thus, "At one stroke it not only further builds our position in the Benelux, making us the leading publisher of local repertoire, it gives us access to leading international songwriters, particularly in the EDM category," remarked BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch, who acquires Tiësto's umlaut in the deal and who briefly resumed his accent to add, "I am zo excited zat I am, how you say, tverking vhile I compose zis quote." In addition to creating new entity BMG Talpa Music, the pact finds BMG acquiring Canal Music Publishing, which works songs by contestants on TV's The Voice; Talpa's stake in UK pubbery Phrased Differently Music Ltd.; and production/effects music library MusicDIRECTOR B.V. (2/10a)