Music publisher and licensor Samuel French has been acquired by Concord Music, which will form a new theatrical licensing company comprised of its recent acquisitions.
The new licensing company, Concord Theatricals, will include the professional and amateur theatrical licensing catalogs of Samuel French, Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals, Tams-Witmark and The Musical Company, a joint venture with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. The acquisition of Samuel French, an 188-year-old company that largely focuses on dramas, introduces plays into Concord’s catalog.
“Samuel French adds to Concord Theatricals a broad diversity of rights, relationships, experience and executive talent, along with a great family legacy that will continue to flourish with [Nathan Collins’] and [Abbie Van Nostrand’s] participation,” Jake Wisely, Chief Publishing Executive of Concord Music, said in the press release. “French also broadens our existing relationships and business synergies, as we now represent all of the musicals of Marvin Hamlisch, both the stage rights and film and TV music rights of Agatha Christie Ltd., as well as various recordings and now the plays of Steve Martin. With Samuel French, Concord is no longer just music.”
The Samuel French catalog includes more than 10,000 titles, including plays by August Wilson, Arthur Miller and Neil Simon, as well as the musicals “Grease,” “Chicago,” “Fun Home,” “Heathers” and more.
As part of the acquisition, Samuel French President Nathan Collins will become the general manager of Concord Theatricals, reporting to head Sean Patrick Flahaven, the founder of The Musical Company.
Concord began moving into licensing in 2011, when it acquired the Marvin Hamlisch catalog. The company continued in 2016, with its co-venture with the Really Useful Group. It acquired the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in 2017, as part of Imagem Music, and Tams-Witmark in 2018.
Outside of the newly formed Concord Theatricals, independent licensors include Music Theatre International and Theatrical Rights Worldwide, which both represent musicals.
In addition to its licensing services, Concord Theatricals develops, produces and invests in musicals including “Jagged Little Pill” and “Soul: The Stax Musical.”
The executive team of Concord Theatricals is comprised of Ted Chapin as president and chief creative officers of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Sarge Aborn as chief executive of Tams-Witmark.
The senior staff includes Victoria Traube, Imogen Lloyd Webber, Abbie Van Nostrand, Amy Rose Marsh and Vivien Goodwin.
