BMG To Acquire Bug Music

BMG Rights Management has entered into an agreement to acquire Bug Music.

Last week, reports pegged the sale to be valued at about $300 million. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close by October.

Bug’s Nashville office is headed by VP John Allen, and Roger Murrah exited his post as Sr. VP earlier this summer.

Darrell Franklin serves as Executive VP of BMG Chrysalis’s Nashville operations.

BMG has been gobbling up other publishers in recent years, including Cherry Lane, Crosstown, S1 Songs, Stage Three, and EverGreen Copyrights, as well as a merger with Chrysalis Music.

Bug Music is a leading independent music publisher. Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Bug Music currently owns and/or manages copyrights, including evergreen classics and contemporary hits such as “Fever,” “What a Wonderful World,” “I Walk the Line,” “Summer in the City,” “The Real Slim Shady,” “Who Are You?,” “Under the Boardwalk,” and “The Passenger.”

Bug Music’s clients include the estates of musical legends Johnny Cash, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Woody Guthrie, Del Shannon and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as contemporary icons such as Iggy Pop, Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, Wilco and The National. Bug Music also supports songwriters and artists through its Arthouse Entertainment joint venture with Kara DioGuardi, 2007 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year and former American Idol judge.

“With the acquisition of Bug Music and its vast collection of evergreen and contemporary compositions, BMG further establishes itself as a leading music rights management company,” said Hartwig Masuch, CEO of BMG Rights Management. “We look forward to working with Bug Music’s exceptional roster of artists and songwriters.”