ONE LEGACY NEEDS ANOTHER

Sony Music and Artist Legacy Group have entered into a joint-venture agreement involving Sony catalog division Legacy Recordings, whose President, Adam Block, announced the deal.

The venture, which will operate under the ALG name, will handle all business aspects of artist brand management including sourcing and securing merch opportunities, sourcing and securing print (book, magazines, posters) and/or film opportunities (e.g. biopics) and social-media management, focusing initially on artist estates. ALG will provide artist and estate brand management services to Legacy Recordings and other frontline Sony labels while also remaining open to opportunities outside the Sony ecosystem. Current ALG clients include photographer Mick Rock, the estate of Keith Moon and Max's Kansas City.

In the announcement, ALG COO Scott Austin explained his company’s function "Intellectual property rights management plays an integral role in successful, comprehensive marketing strategies in today's entertainment industry,” said Austin. “By working closely with Sony Music affiliates, ALG will provide unparalleled levels of service to our clients and maximize the impact of campaigns surrounding their name, likeness, media and other content."

"The venture is particularly exciting for Legacy because it will allow us to offer easy access to a broader, more mutually beneficial menu of services to our artists," Block stated for the record. "Legacy has spent the last 25 years refining our skills at developing and reinforcing the ideas of our artists and their music and video content—for the context of this conversation, helping to develop and build our artist's 'brands'—with the limited rights most of our contracts allow. Combining our experience with ALG's growing expertise in the broader brand management space, as well as our in-house merch company, Threadshop, and our creative agency, Arcade, we see a terrific opportunity to create even greater awareness and opportunities for the artists and estates we'll work with."