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Sony Music and Artist Legacy Group form joint venture

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 30 October 2015

Sony Music and the Artist Legacy Group have launched a new joint venture that provides artist brand management services, mainly for heritage artists, with the new enterprise sitting alongside the major label’s catalogue division, Legacy Recordings.

The new business will be overseen by ALG CEO Ashley Austin and COO Scott Austin, and will operate under the ALG name. You’ll barely even notice a difference, except that it’ll now be a division of Sony’s Commercial Music Group in New York under the watchful eye of Legacy President Adam Block.

Says Ashley Austin: “SME/CMG’s vision for expanding its service offerings to include brand management and development is an incredibly intuitive and forward-thinking strategy. ALG prides itself on proactive protection and promotion of our clients’ unique legacies, and we are thrilled to embark on this joint venture. Working closely with Adam Block and the SME/CMG family will allow for the creation of new and exciting opportunities across the board”.

Scott Austin adds: “Intellectual property rights management plays an integral role in successful, comprehensive marketing strategies in today’s entertainment industry. By working closely with Sony Music affiliates, ALG will provide unparalleled levels of service to our clients and maximise the impact of campaigns surrounding their name, likeness, media and other content”.

Services provided by ALG to Legacy and other Sony-signed artists (and beyond the Sony Music domain too) will include seeking merchandising opportunities, social media management, print buying, and trying to convince film companies to make biopics.