Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company, and a division of the Warner Music Group. The company traces its origins back to 1811 and the founding of Chappell & Company, a music publishing company and instrument shop on London’s Bond Street [1] that, in 1929, began a rapid expansion period under Chairman Louis Dreyfus,[2] including the acquisitions of M. Witmark & Sons, Remick Music Corporation, Harms, Inc., Chappell & Co., and Tamerlane Music, among others.[3][4]
Warner/Chappell was created in 1987 when Warner Communications purchased Chappell & Co.[5] and is ranked by Music & Copyright as world’s third-largest music publisher [6] with a catalog of more than one million songs and a roster of more than 65,000 songwriters.[7] Among the songs in the company's library are "Happy Birthday to You" and "Winter Wonderland."
In 2007, the company acquired Non-Stop Music.[8] Additionally, in 2010 it acquired 615 Music, a Nashville-based production music company[9] and, in 2011, it acquired Southside Independent Music Publishing and its catalog of hit songwriters, including Bruno Mars, Brody Brown and J.R. Rotem.[10]
In 2005, Warner/Chappell sold most of its printed music division, Warner Bros. Publications, to Alfred Publishing.[11] and, in 2006, launched the Pan European Digital Licensing Initiative (P.E.D.L.).[12] In 2007, when Radiohead released In Rainbows through its website on a pay-what-you-wish model, Warner/Chappell created a streamlined, one-of-a-kind licensing process for the songs on the album[13] that allowed rights users from around the world to secure use of the music from a single location.[14]
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