Proskauer represented Cameron Strang and his company, Southside Independent Music Publishing, in its sale to the Warner Music Group, one of the world’s largest music companies.
Mr. Strang has also been appointed the CEO of Warner/Chappell Music, the WMG music publishing unit, and will assume the role on July 1, 2011. He has stepped down as president of New West Records, which he founded, and DMZ Records, a joint venture that he co-founded with Grammy-winning producer T-Bone Burnett and Academy Award-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. Southside publishes a number of highly successful new songwriters, including Bruno Mars and Brody Brown, as well as ASCAP’s songwriter of the year Ashley Gorley, Matthew West, and the members of Kings of Leon.
In announcing the acquisition and Strang’s role, Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the Chairman/CEO of Warner Music Group, stated: “Cameron’s impressive track record of identifying and signing some of the industry’s most successful emerging songwriters and catalogs, and his proven success as an entrepreneur, make him the ideal executive to lead Warner/Chappell. He’ll be a great fit for the progressive and entrepreneurial culture that exists within WMG.”
Proskauer’s team was led by Tom Dollinger in Los Angeles and Ira Bogner and Chuck Ortner in New York, and included Bill Hart, Jeremy Moehlmann, Nicole Ross, Raj Tanden, Marc Zametto, and Simon Seung Min Cheung.
The firm’s Entertainment Group is a broad-based practice focusing primarily on the music and motion picture industries. The lawyers in the practice act as strategic advisers in connection with a wide range of litigation and transactional matters. In the litigation arena, members of the group represent clients in connection with disputes involving virtually every area of the entertainment industry, including contracts, copyright, trademark, false advertising, unfair competition, First Amendment, rights of privacy and publicity, defamation and internal corporate investigations. On the transactional side, members of the group handle acquisitions, financing agreements, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, executive employment agreements and corporate governance matters.
