Gaylord Entertainment's Acuff-Rose Music Publishing Buys Tom Collins Music; Three Catalogs are Acquired
The three catalogs feature some of country music's most popular hits, including "I Love," "Little Bitty," "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine," "Don't Rock the Jukebox," "When I Close My Eyes" and "There's Your Trouble."
"The Acuff-Rose creative department is extremely excited about continuing the activity of these catalogs. They contain great songs, and we look forward to working with them," said Acuff-Rose president Jerry Bradley. "The catalogs have produced great hits for artists such as Alan Jackson, Tom T. Hall, Kenny Chesney and the Dixie Chicks."
Tom Collins Music was started in 1982 and in its first year had BMI's most performed song, "Nobody." Acuff-Rose, Nashville's first music publishing company, was created in 1942 by country legend Roy Acuff and songwriter Fred Rose. It was acquired by Gaylord Entertainment in 1985.
"I had a personal goal of building the largest Nashville-owned independent publishing company," said Tom Collins, chief executive officer of Tom Collins Music. "With that achievement done, now is the time to let these copyrights be represented by a larger publisher. Acuff-Rose is a legend and will carry these songs into the future."
Acquiring the catalogs fits the strategy of Gaylord Entertainment, according to the company's executive vice president and chief operating officer, Joe Crace.
"Music is at the heart of Gaylord Entertainment, and this purchase continues to build our music library," Crace said. "It fits our corporate strategy of enhancing our country music business while we also expand our contemporary Christian music operations and our hospitality division. We continue to seek acquisitions that will expand our music copyrights, our video catalog and our film content, all of which will broaden our capabilities."
Gaylord Entertainment Company is a diversified entertainment company with operations in hospitality, attractions, music, entertainment, broadcasting and cable networks. Among its properties are WSM radio and the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland Hotel, Acuff-Rose Music Publishing, Word Entertainment, Z Music Television, Country Music Television International, the Wildhorse Saloon, the Ryman Auditorium, WWTN radio, Cornerstone Sports and Opryland Productions. Its headquarters are in Nashville, Tenn.