Stockholm, Sweden. Photo Credit: Yoko Correia Nishimiya
Sony Music Publishing has officially partnered with the publishing division of music-management firm The Very Good “to provide further support for its catalogue and expand international opportunities for its roster of songwriters.”
Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV) unveiled its partnership with The Very Good’s publishing unit today, in a formal release that was shared with Digital Music News. One Jakob Emtestam founded the overarching Very Good back in 2011, and the entity “has since become one of the top music management companies in Scandinavia,” according to the announcement message.
The Stockholm-headquartered company’s publishing arm, for its part, debuted about two years ago and recently signed songwriter-producers Julia Karlsson and Anton Rundberg, who have writing credits on Tiesto’s “The Business.”
Hilda Stenmalm, Rasmus Budny, and Kristin Carpenter represent some of the other songwriters on the roster of The Very Good, whose professionals have contributed to works from BTS, Sting, and Ava Max.
Addressing his company’s SMP partnership in a statement, The Very Good founder Jakob Emtestam said: “We represent the best songwriters in the world with the support of our incredible A&R team, and joining forces with Sony Music Publishing only makes us stronger – we can’t be anything but excited for the future.
“After having worked with Sony over the full life of The Very Good/Vivstilo, we have developed a terrific relationship, and it feels like we’re coming home,” concluded the former Monstera production manager.
Additionally, Johnny Tennander, managing director for Sony Music Publishing, Scandinavia and SVP of A&R, Europe said: “The Very Good not only has a fantastic roster, but is comprised of a driven, professional creative team with a proactive approach that earns continued success.
“We’ve been working closely with Jakob for over a decade now with Noonie Bao, and recently Linus Wiklund, so this is a natural step for us. We are honoured and excited to welcome The Very Good to the Sony Music Publishing family.”
Worth noting is that SMP inked a multifaceted deal (including jointly owned recording studios, among other things) with TikTok talent agency TalentX last July. And while the controversial video-sharing app’s stateside future appears more certain now than it was some 10 months ago, evidence suggests that the ByteDance-owned platform might not be out of the woods yet.
Sony Music Publishing acquired the entire catalog of Paul Simon about one month back, while February saw Universal Music Publishing Group and Gibson finalize a massive brand partnership in China.