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!K7 acquires catalogues from Warner Music as Parlophone deal divestment continues
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 18 October 2017
Warner Music’s divestment of assets relating to its 2013 Parlophone deal continues, with the new announcement that !K7 has acquired the catalogues of Patrice Rushen, Miriam Makeeba and The Beginning Of The End.
As previously reported, in order to get regulator approval for its acquisition of the EMI record company in 2012, Universal Music had to sell off some key EMI units in Europe, including the Parlophone label. Much of those assets then went to Warner which – in a bid to stop the indies opposing its acquisition in the way they had Universal’s EMI purchase – did a deal with the independent sector via its European trade group IMPALA and digital rights agency Merlin. Under that deal, Warner agreed to sell off some assets to the indies.
The first sign that this process was underway came last year, when Radiohead’s catalogue moved to XL. Further deals have seen Because buy up the London Records catalogue, Chrysalis acquire the recordings of Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel, Suzi Quatro, Fun Lovin Criminals and Athlete, and German digital distribution business Zebralution go back to its founders.
This latest deal sees !K7 acquire the Elektra recordings of Patrice Rushen, Miriam Makeba’s records for Reprise, and The Beginning Of The End’s recordings for the Alston label – all of which date from between 1967 and 1988. In the case of The Beginning Of The End, the deal includes the much sampled hip hop break ‘Funky Nassau’, which can be heard in The Prodigy’s ‘No Good (Start The Dance)’, The Roots’ ‘Table Of Contents (Parts 1&2)’, and Funky Porcini’s ‘The Big Sea’, among others.
The various records included in the deal will be slowly pumped out in new packages by !K7’s reissues label Strut. Says Strut founder Quinton Scott: “These are major acquisitions for !K7 and Strut and we are hugely looking forward to working with Ray Munnings from The Beginning Of The End, Patrice Rushen and the estate of Miriam Makeba to create a fresh, strong reissue programme and an enduring legacy for their music”.
