I met Jim McCormick many years ago, when the very accomplished singer-songwriter was performing locally with the band the Bingemen, and teaching a class in English at the University of New Orleans. Over the years, he was signed as a staff songwriter in Nashville. His songs have resulted in his music being recorded by many artists, everyone from Trace Adkins, Harry Connick, Jr., Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and many others. In 2021 his song “The Good Ones” was nominated by the Country Music Association for Song of the Year. That same year “The Good Ones” won the Favorite Country Song category at the American Music Awards. McCormick is a highly successful songwriter, of course, but being in Nashville exposed him more to the business of music publishing. Music publishing is the backbone of the music industry, and it’s where money is made: songs generate income for their writers, not only for the performers of the music via streaming and/or CD or vinyl sales. There’s also the possibility of music being used in films, in advertising, on television, in gaming, and more.

For a very long time, music had not been perceived by the New Orleans business community as a viable investment, because the bulk of bankers and financial people don’t comprehend how money is made in music. New Orleans has always been a hospitality town, and at one time and oil and gas hub. That needs changing, according to McCormick. But there are many songwriters and musicians in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana that don’t know that they could be earning real money on their creative output: songwriting. Jim McCormick—not only an old hand at successful songwriting, but also someone who’s been involved in his own publishing for many years—is now actively working with local songwriters in a partnership with AMR Songs to help them make money with their music.

How has the attitude towards music changed in the global financial markets?

What’s happening in the marketplace with people who own copyrights these days is that it’s becoming pretty widely known that the money on Wall Street has moved into the music copyright asset space. They now see it as a durable asset, a revenue-generating asset that pays annually. So it’s become very attractive for people who want to put their money to work in different places.

For almost all of musical history, and not wrongfully, music has been seen as a relatively unstable place to park your money, given the nature of the business and the characters inside of it.

But publishing (songwriters and publishers, artists and record labels) is now more front and center. The money that’s been generated by those assets has—with the technology we have today—become so transparent and accountable that the big brains behind the money on Wall Street have become comfortable in investing in it.

What this means for us as songwriters is that we have an asset that is now attractive to big investment money. It’s like owning an oil well or a piece of land. That caused a rise in prices being paid for music rights, whether it was for the composition right or the master recording right.

How has that change affected large and small catalogs of music rights/publishing?

Small catalogs are a more difficult to find a purchaser for only because the money from Wall Street  is so big that they’re not concerned with small purchases; they’re able to buy Dylan’s catalog and Tina Turner’s, and they are able to fund those kinds of purchases and they want that kind big yield from those investments. The small catalogs may be attractive when you kind of drill down on them, but the financial and legal due diligences are tedious processes and they have to be done for both a small catalog or a large catalog. They’d rather do it for a big one. So the “cost of hunting” is the same for a sabretooth tiger as is it for a wooly mammoth—and they [Wall Street] want the wooly mammoth.

Prices for catalogs have doubled in the last few years for what an owner of a composition or a recording could get…if that copyright is generating revenue. There’s a bottom line, a floor, that most funds and publishers have in what they are looking to purchase.

But it’s a great time for sellers. As a songwriter myself, I have closed deals on selling some of my copyrights because the prices were compelling.

How did you decide to get into the music publishing game, from being a songwriter?

I had been approached by a great intelligent investor in New Orleans and we partnered to put together a private equity fund to purchase copyright assets. We did this in the midst of all those price hikes that were happening in the marketplace. The hikes were pretty daunting if you were to become a purchaser in this marketplace. To compete with other purchasers, we were going to have to pay prices that seemed, from one point of view, almost irrational. So we stopped that company because we couldn’t compete. That company has gone by the wayside, but in putting together that company, I truly educated myself about this asset and about how this market works. I thought that was the end of my time in that “lane.”

But the prices rose so high that as a songwriter and copyright owner, I was compelled to enter the market as a seller and see what I could get. I was impressed with the offers I was given.

How did you as a songwriter get those offers for your songs?

As a songwriter, or a rights-holder, or an heir or family member, it’s customary to engage a lawyer to handle the process. There are also brokers out there and they charge an exhorbitant fee to find and sell catalog rights. You have to hire a lawyer anyway to paper the deal and make sure the details are correct. There are good lawyers in so-called “music cities” (and in New Orleans) and they know people who are experienced and interested in purchases. You can hire someone who knows the ropes. You have to sign an NDA [non-disclosure agreement] and share earnings info for those songs. You just need to find a lawyer who has expertise and relationships and buyers in the market, who kind of knows who’s buying. The big thing is that you have to have a copyright that’s generating revenue; that’s what you have to have.

I found a buyer for my songs and we began a negotiation. In the midst of that, it was the strangest thing, but in my conversation with Tamara Conniff [daughter of bandleader and arranger Ray Conniff]—a wonderful music executive with great experience under her belt—she recognized that I was asking questions that were uncommon for most sellers. So then she asked me how I knew to ask all these “pertinent” questions: general partnership, limited partnerships, private equity, etc. I understood all that and told her about my previous experience and how enjoyable I found it [knowing how to structure deals and educating myself on structuring financial deals], and she said, “Why don’t we work together? We’d like to have representation in New Orleans on the Gulf Coast.” Subsequently we talked to her partner Steve, and now I find myself working with this funded music publishing company [AMR Songs, based in Hollywood, CA], and we are very flexible, very creative.

If there’s anybody who’s interested in selling, first of all I need to know what they are interested in selling anything, composition right, or master recording right. I need to know what they are interested in selling, how much how they trying to get, and really working with them to come up with a solution to determine the solution they need. Most of us don’t have the opportunity for a huge liquidity event in our lives. Those of us who own songs or master recordings that generate annual revenue now have that opportunity because of the money from Wall Street that’s moved into this place.

How did this change in attitude happen?

It happened gradually over time, but really started to happen on the date when David Bowie issued bonds backed up by his royalty income. That’s the first time that music assets (copyrights) and the finance world got together and “dated.” That was the beginning of this way of thinking. But over the last five years, now we find ourselves at a very handsome valuation time for music assets. [Note: Bowie’s entire music catalog was recently sold to Warner Chappell Music for $250 million].

As a New Orleanian and a songwriter, I know that this conversation is ripe for New Orleans. It’s a popular conversation in Nashville and New York and Los Angeles and London, but it hasn’t come to New Orleans much yet. There are some publishers who have come in and bought catalogs over the years, but it’s a different time now, with more money and valuations. But if someone owns a music asset (copyrights or masters), it’s a great opportunity for someone who is at a point in their life where they need that financial windfall, and I’m having already very fruitful, interesting conversations with some local people. It’s just starting to happen here.

So the criteria for your target is that the person or company that owns a copyright or masters, and it has to be throwing off annual income?

Yes, but we’re also looking to partner on songs that haven’t necessarily yet been generating a lot of income, ones we might find attractive, songs where we can activate usage on in the film and television areas. We are a publishing-minded company, and that means we want to exploit the rights as best we can. If people want to take that ride with us, maybe a seller only wants to sell a portion to participate in a portion of the rights we can monetize.

If you buy a catalog from someone, what exactly do you do with it?

A music publisher does three things: acquisition (either sign a songwriter to write songs, or buy a catalog). They do exploitation—get those songs recorded and played [in various scenarios, like recordings, synch rights, etc.] to generate money. And they also do administration, which means they collect those pennies, nickels and dollars from around the world. We are looking to do all of those things. We want to partner with musicians and songwriters locally going forward. We’re flexible, creative and unique to each individual we’re talking to.

What exactly are your criteria for song or catalog acquisition?

Well, there’s not a floor on it, but the income from the song or catalog has to be a significant part of a potential partner’s annual income.

So that would narrow the market considerably, I would think.

It would, and there aren’t successful music creators just lying around on every corner. It’s not a wide net. But this region—as we both know, especially New Orleans—is rich with a history of great songwriting and great music publishing, and so I don’t think it’s a fool’s errand to look around here to tell local people about this who might want to sell something they have created.

I perceive that the benefit of working with you and AMR is that you’re a successful songwriter, you’ve been involved in publishing for a while, and you know the business too. With the music industry being perceived as a more stable investment, are you going to set up a local shop in New Orleans?

No brick and mortar office. But if anyone is interested, it’s easy to get in touch with me; they should reach out, and let’s start a conversation via email.

If anyone has income that’s being generated on a regular basis, we should talk. If they aren’t savvy enough to know the ins and outs of music publishing revenue and what it can do for them, their manager or lawyer should get in on a conversation with me. If someone in a family has a copyrighted song that’s generating income, we should have a discussion. We would love to talk to anyone who has a legacy catalog. I personally, deeply, understand the emotional nature of the asset, and the actuality and potentiality of selling it. When you do it, it’s like letting your “baby” go. But when I ran a potential sale of my music, I went to speak to my financial planner, and he told me to do it immediately. Significant revenue-generating copyright owners should definitely reach out.

More info on Jim McCOrmick and his music is available on his YouTube channel.

Get in touch with AMR Songs and Jim McCormick by emailing [email protected].