Warner Chappell and BandLab Technologies have inked an exclusive partnership agreement. Photo Credit: Warner Music Group
Warner Chappell Music (WCM) and BandLab Technologies have inked an exclusive agreement centering on the latter’s ReverbNation artist-services subsidiary.
The Warner Music-owned publisher and Caldecott Music Group’s BandLab Technologies reached out today with word of their “groundbreaking” union. As described by the companies, Warner Chappell is set to handle administration for ReverbNation creators enrolled in a “new ReverbNation Publishing Administration program.”
Additionally, WCM and ReverbNation intend to form a JV designed to identify and connect with talent via the platform, which BandLab Technologies bought back in 2021. Songwriters “jointly signed” to the publisher as well as ReverbNation will also receive support from the former’s team, including A&R, sync, and creative-services professionals, the entities drove home.
Addressing the partnership, Warner Chappell co-chair and CEO Guy Moot noted the “multitude of different digital platforms” through which artists and songwriters are currently being discovered.
“Songwriters and artists are now being discovered through a multitude of different digital platforms, in what I call the ‘new songwriter economy,’” said Moot, whose employer (Warner Music proper, that is) unveiled an expansive deal with SoundCloud nearly two years back.
“Joining forces with BandLab Technologies allows us to tap into the incredible creator community that they’ve built and help support and amplify the voices of promising, up-and-coming talent,” he continued.
And in comments of his own, BandLab Technologies co-founder and CEO Meng Ru Kuok, who also heads NME Networks and the aforementioned Caldecott, emphasized the perceived ability to enable “a new generation of artists to find their voice and place.”
“This partnership not only unlocks additional potential avenues for artistic development and innovation, it also bridges the gap between emerging talents and established industry platforms, allowing a new generation of artists to find their voice and place in a continuously adapting and expanding landscape,” the Gawker owner said in part.
Bigger picture, the agreement marks just the latest in a line of high-profile deals closed by Warner Chappell, which recently brought on a new VP of creative sync, to this point in 2024. Specifically during April, the publisher finalized a global admin tie-up with Dua Lipa’s Radical22 and, on the gaming side, united with Electronic Arts.
Lastly, in terms of WCM’s April moves, the publisher and ICE broadened their partnership 10 days ago. Under that bolstered pact, Warner Chappell is expected to “move all online processing from other European digital licensing administration partners to ICE.”
