Sanctuary Group acquire leading music publishing company

The Sanctuary Group plc, a leading developer of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the fields of music, television and entertainment, have agreed to acquire the Air-Edel Group – a top international composer representation, music supervision and publishing company.
Air-Edel, established over 30 years ago by Sir George Martin and Herman Edel, manages a roster of composers, arrangers, music editors and music supervisors worldwide. Air-Edel is a growing specialist music publishing company, which administers both catalogue and individual works in the areas of film, TV, radio, theatre, ballet and commercials.
Strategically, the acquisition fits in with Sanctuary’s existing artist and producer management activities, where it has over 40 managed artists and producers – as well as building up its music publishing activities.
Deke Arlon, President of Sanctuary Music Publishing and CEO Sanctuary Artist Management UK, said: “Air-Edel has an excellent roster of talent and music publishing catalogues and I am pleased to welcome the company to Sanctuary and thank Keith Evans for initiating the deal. Air-Edel artists will benefit from our world-class recording and writing facilities and be able to plug into our international network of promotion and exploitation."
Maggie Rodford will continue as Managing Director of Air-Edel to attract an impressive roster of both established and younger artists.
Worldwide Air-Edel represents over 40 artists whose credits include music for the Academy award-winning film ‘The Full Monty’ (Best Original Comedy Score), ‘The Crying Game’, ‘Gosford Park’, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’, ‘Thunderpants’, ‘Last Orders’ and ‘Withnail and I’.
In addition, Air-Edel has provided music supervision/production and co-ordination services on films including ‘Insomnia’, ‘Hannibal’, ‘Gladiator’, 'Shakespeare in Love’ and ‘Muppets from Space’.
Maggie Rodford, MD of Air-Edel, said: “The acquisition of Air-Edel by Sanctuary represents a new and exciting chapter in the history and development of Air-Edel and we are looking forward to working closely together to further develop our leading role in the world of ‘media music’.
"I believe that we will be able to provide some new and very creative opportunities for the uniquely talented group of composers whom we represent, particularly in the US, through our Los Angeles office, and where Sanctuary is building a very strong business.”
Sanctuary is also the world’s largest independent owner of music catalogues, with over 100,000 tracks covering most genres.
Sanctuary Group, www.sanctuarygroup.com
(GMcG)