Independent music company Partisan Records is getting significantly bigger in publishing.
Partisan acquired investment firm Firebird's interest in OTM Music and then merged OTM with its own publishing operation, Left Music.
The resulting company now has publishing operations and personnel across London, Los Angeles, New York and Paris, giving an independent music company considerably more international reach.
The combined roster includes writers and artists connected to projects involving Sudan Archives, Sub Focus, Elizabeth Fraser, Metronomy, Gianluca Buccellati and Leon Michels, among others.
Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the strategic significance is clear: Partisan is taking the same independent approach it used in recorded music and applying it to music publishing and catalogs.
The merger comes during a broader period of consolidation in music publishing, as independent companies attempt to compete with the scale and resources of the major publishers.
Why it matters: You don't have to be Universal, Sony or Warner to build a serious global publishing business. Independent companies are increasingly combining resources, catalogs and investment capital to compete at a much larger scale.
