Concord continues to expand, this time with the acquisition of Native Tongue, one of the leading independent music publishers in Australasia.
A family business since it was established in 2003 by New Zealander Chris Gough, Native Tongue is sub-publisher for more than 40 international catalogs, including Barton Music, Because Editions, Boosey & Hawkes, Cloud 9 Music, Domino Publishing Company, Faber Music, Roys Boys, PULSE Publishing, Ultra Music and Wixen Music.
The acquisition, announced Thursday (Aug. 4), is an extension to an alliance that has seen Native Tongue represent Concord in Australia and NZ for more than 12 years.
Concord now has access to Native Tongue’s stable of songwriters, which includes Grammy-nominated writer/producer Stuart Crichton (Backstreet Boys, Kesha, Kygo, Robin Schulz), Jon Hume (Dean Lewis, Sofi Tukker), M-Phazes (Ruel, Remi Wolf), Courtney Barnett, Luke Buda, Sir Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, Aldous Harding, Tami Neilson and Marlon Williams.
Since Chris’ semi-retirement in 2014, Native Tongue has been led by siblings Jaime and Chelsea Gough.
Going forward, the new entity, Concord Music Publishing ANZ, will be based in Melbourne, with staff in Sydney and Auckland. Jaime Gough leads as managing director along with senior VP Chelsea Gough, and an executive team including David Nash, VP publishing and Matt Tanner, VP A&R.
“Jaime and Chelsea along with our wonderful team of people have grown the company significantly in recent years,” comments Native Tongue founder Chris Gough. “This is the next step, providing our home-grown writers with a truly international organization capable of maximizing their potential worldwide.”
Financial terms were not disclosed on the deal, a “strategic” one that unlocks opportunities across the region and Asia, where Native Tongue’s songwriters have enjoyed success, notes John Minch, Concord’s president of international publishing.
“Australia and New Zealand are important music markets in their own right and this is a region that we have wanted to invest in for many years,” Minch comments. “This will be an important strategic move for Concord in coordinating our Asia publishing initiatives, which Jaime will handle. Above all, this acquisition is about the Native Tongue team, who we know well and believe will really enjoy being part of Concord.”
The Native Tongue acquisition is expected to be one of several announcements in the months ahead from Concord, an independent powerhouse which represents a catalog of nearly 900,000 songs,
“To be able to take this next step with friends that we have worked closely with for many years is exciting,” adds Jaime Gough, a regular in The Music’s Australian industry Power 50 list. “This will be fun.”
