Music company Concord has acquired Broadway Licensing Global and its portfolio of imprints, which includes Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, and Stage Rights. The acquisition will add those libraries to the already massive Concord Theatricals catalogue, which itself is a conglomerate of the formerly disparate Samuel French, Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals, Tams-Witmark, and Musicals Inc. (the Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection) libraries.
This latest consolidation in the theatrical licensing world officially establishes Concord as the market's main behemoth, with Music Theatre International and Theatrical Rights Worldwide standing almost singular as the only remaining independent licensing houses. Concord Theatricals' conglomerate launched in 2018, bringing theatrical licensing to Concord's slate of music publishing and catalogue development. The company has made itself a one-stop-shop for artists, with departments that can handle cast albums and new movie and TV projects derived from stage works.
Among the artists whose work is now joining the Concord family are David Auburn, Jocelyn Bioh, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Richard Greenberg, Lauren Gunderson, Katori Hall, David Henry Hwang, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Michael Korie, John Leguizamo, Matthew L贸pez, Martyna Majok, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson, Alan Menken, Arthur Miller, Lynn Nottage, John Patrick Shanley, Sam Shepard, Tom Stoppard, Paula Vogel, Tennessee Williams, Doug Wright, Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, Hasbro, and Mischief Worldwide.
Broadway Licensing Global was itself already a conglomerate, having acquired the formerly independent Dramatists Play Service, and Playscripts in recent years.
鈥淐oncord鈥檚 mission is to champion authors by promoting and protecting their work and empowering theatre makers to help their shows reach audiences worldwide,鈥� says Concord Chief Theatricals Executive Sean Patrick Flahaven in a statement. 鈥淏ringing together these catalogs combines 150 titles and 400 authors that are already shared between the companies, as well as creating new relationships. I鈥檓 thrilled to put our people and resources at their service. As with our team of 90+ theatrical experts at Concord, my career has been spent in support of authors and producers. We鈥檙e grateful to the BLG team for all the work they鈥檝e done building their catalog and for trusting us with it."
"We have built Concord Theatricals into one of the world's most significant theatre licensors, producers, and record labels in an effort to further our mission of elevating voices and impacting culture," adds Concord CEO Bob Valentine. "We look forward to dedicating our best-in-class infrastructure and knowledgeable staff to championing the prestigious works in BLG's catalog."
Stephen E. Sessa and Ross D. Williams of Reed Smith advised Concord on the transaction, along with Carolyn J. Casselman of Davis Wright Tremaine and Pedro Miranda Lopez of KPMG. Lisbeth R. Barron of Barron International Group acted as Concord's financial advisor. Goldman Sachs advised BLG, along with Jeffrey Horwitz, Lara Miller, and Laura Addicott of Proskauer Rose.
鈥淲e are theatre professionals who love what we do,鈥� says Broadway Licensing Global Chief Operating Officer Dan Markley. 鈥淏LG was founded in 2017 before the COVID pandemic and expanded over the next few years, acquiring Dramatists Play Service along with other licensing companies while funding and stabilizing the company during the most challenging time in the history of the American theatre. Now, Ted Chapin and I are very pleased to have found the right partner to continue to protect our primary stakeholders, the authors and playwrights who create the wonderful works we help make available to performers and producers. By combining forces with Concord, we can now assure best-in-class practices for decades to come for all our stakeholders regardless of market conditions our industry may have to confront.
The sale did not include BLG's Broadway On Demand streaming service or content development devision Stageworks.
