Evergreen Copyrights

EverGreen acquires MC Hammer catalog

July 20 2006, Billboard Magazine

EverGreen Copyrights has acquired the MC Hammer music catalog, the Crutchfield/Glitterfish music catalog and Nashville-based copyright administration company Integrated Copyright Group (ICG). These acquisitions nearly double the copyrights owned or administered by the company, which now total more than 40,000.

Music industry veterans Joel Katz, David Schulhof and Richard Perna launched EverGreen in January. Private equity fund Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partners III owns a majority interest in the company.

The ICG acquisition provides the company with the infrastructure to handle worldwide administration. ICG provides administration services for more than 500 clients worldwide, handling the catalogs of Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn, Ray Stevens and Senator Orrin Hatch. These deals are expected to continue through EverGreen.

Evergreen purchased the MC Hammer catalog for $2.7 million from the trustee of the MC Hammer bankruptcy estate.

“We anticipate that many songs in the MC Hammer catalog will emerge as a perfect fit for licensing in movies, television shows and corporate advertising,” says Schulhof, EverGreen co-CEO.

The Crutchfield/Glitterfish catalog was acquired from record producer Jerry Crutchfield. It contains several hits performed by top country artists, including Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile” and “I Do But I Don’t,” Martina McBride’s “Concrete Angel,” George Strait’s “Living and Living Well” and Tanya Tucker’s “Oh What It Did To Me."

As part of the transaction, Evergreen and Crutchfield will work together to market several hundred previously unrecorded songs included in the catalog.

The company also announced four new executive appointments: John A. Lippman is senior VP/CFO; John C. Barker, co-founder and president of ICG, is VP of copyright administration; Chip Hardy is VP of A&R Nashville; and Cathleen Murphy is VP of A&R New York.

EverGreen also announced the opening of its new Nashville offices on Music Row.

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