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Home , Abe Olman, Jody Gerson, Music catalog

RAINMARTYMAKERS BANDIER The Grand Cohiba

“We are the greatest content holder in the music-publishing era.”

34 arty Bandier has been a rain- maker for so long that two of our other rainmakers, UMPG’s Jody Gerson and Warner/ MChappell’s Big Jon Platt, were once his protégés—and Platt, as we recently learned, will be the music-biz legend’s successor when Bandier retires from the top post at Sony/ATV at the end of March 2019, perfectly closing the circle of a remarkable career. But until Marty calls it a day, the three close friends will remain competitors—and all’s fair in love and publishing. “I love them; they’re like my kids—and they wanna kill me!” is how Bandier explained it in a 2017 Q&A at his alma mater, Syracuse University. Bandier, who is in his 12th year as Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV— which he’s transformed into the biggest player in music publishing—is univer- sally admired in the music business. “I’ve known Marty for many, many years, and Marty is without a doubt the most iconic of his generation,” Allen Grubman, Bandier’s longtime attorney, tells us. “Every step he’s taken throughout his career has been phenomenally successful. There’s nobody out there with his level of knowledge and sophistication, and it shows: Every company he’s run has grown every year. When you talk about the great record guys, like Mo Ostin, Ahmet Ertegun and Clive Davis, Marty is their equivalent in music publishing, and I’m very proud to have represented him all these years.” Offered fellow attorney Joel Katz, “Why has Sony/ATV done well? It’s because they have a great team and a great leader in Marty Bandier; it’s the same in all successful businesses.” Platt hailed him as “an icon,” not- ing, “He was very supportive of me as an A&R. I’m very competitive and Marty’s very competitive, so we had a connection there.” He added, “Marty played a big role in who I am today.” “I didn’t think guys like him existed in the industry anymore,” Wyclef Jean

34 35 ALL IN THE FAMILY: Future competitors Jon Platt and Jody Gerson, with Marty, Gerald Levert and Bob Flax in the EMI days. told The Guardian. “The reality is, it Song of the Year winners as “Moon LeFrak, his father-in-law at the time. used to be about the songs, and the time River,” “Michelle,” “You’ve Got a Bandier rose to Senior Vice President. we’re living in now, it’s more about a Friend,” “The Way We Were,” “Every In 1975, Bandier made his first quick hit. For Marty, it’s more about the Breath You Take,” “Stay with Me” big play in the music business, form- music. He’ll come to your show, see the and “Thinking Out Loud.” ing The Entertainment Company with vibe that you’re on. He actually stud- “We are the greatest content holder LeFrak and industry veteran Charles ies every artist to see the range of what in the music-publishing era,” Bandier Koppelman. (Bandier was 34 at the they can do.” boasted a few years ago. time, relatively old for someone just put it more bluntly entering the music business—though he when his hip-hop band N.E.R.D played andier was born into a musi- has since made up for lost time.) The at EMI’s post-Grammys party in 2003. cal family in New York. His production and publishing company “Respect to Marty Bandier, the best mother was a classically was responsible for such Top 10 hits as motherfucking music publisher in the trained pianist. He and his Barbra Streisand’s “My Heart Belongs world.” older brother both followed to Me,” Dolly Parton’s “Here You That is not an exaggeration. Without in her footsteps. He gradu- Come Again” and ’ “Why question, Bandier has been the single ated from Syracuse in 1962 Do Fools Fall in Love.” most dominant music publisher of and from Brooklyn Law In 1984, he and Koppelman dis- the last 30 years. Apart from his two BSchool in 1965, whereupon solved their partnership with LeFrak accomplished former lieutenants, no he joined the New York firm of Battle and formed the Entertainment Music one comes close to matching his gigan- Fowler Jaffin & Kheel. In 1969, he Company and the Entertainment tic footprint. became General Counsel to the LeFrak Television Company. The partners set Sony/ATV owns the rights to 3 mil- Organization, a real-estate-develop- out to buy song catalogs. They bid on lion songs, including such Grammy ment company headed by Samuel ATV Music, which held the rights to

36 SMOKE ’EM IF YOU GOT ’EM: With Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry

The Beatles’ music—but lost out to in the financial community viewed the , who bought the com- value of owning musical copyrights,” pany for $47.5 million in 1985. Bandier “WHY HAS SONY/ATV entertainment attorney Freddie Gershon and Koppelman had put in a higher bid, told The New York Times. according to a 1985 story in the Los DONE WELL? The SBK principals more than Angeles Times by Robert Hilburn, but doubled their money when they sold Jackson was prepared to close the deal IT’S BECAUSE THEY SBK’s song catalog to Thorn EMI in more quickly, which proved to be the HAVE A GREAT 1989 for $295 million. As part of the deciding factor. deal, Koppelman and Bandier formed a In 1986, the partners purchased the TEAM AND A partnership with EMI Music Worldwide Combine Music catalog (best known to create their own , SBK for Kris Kristofferson classics) from GREAT LEADER IN Records. Bandier was named President Monument Records. That same year, MARTY BANDIER; and Chief Operating Officer of the Bandier and Koppelman teamed with record company and Vice Chairman financier Stephen C. Swid to form the IT’S THE SAME of the combined publishing company, investor group SBK Entertainment EMI Music Publishing. Koppelman World. (The name is an acronym incor- IN ALL was Chairman/CEO of the label and porating the first letter of each of the SUCCESSFUL Chairman of EMI Music Publishing, founders’ surnames.) They purchased making him Bandier’s boss. the CBS Songs catalog for the record- BUSINESSES.” SBK Records became one of the hottest setting price of $125 million. start-up labels in music history. Vanilla Ice’s “That was a dazzling acquisition, —JOEL KATZ To the Extreme shipped 7 million copies in because it changed the way everyone the U.S., per the RIAA. Wilson Phillips’ self-

36 37 titled debut shipped 5 million. The “[That] was a trial by fire,” Bandier “Six weeks after he stepped down, latter project received five Grammy noms, said. “[Berry Gordy Jr.] was very con- Marty called me, and he made it clear including Album of the Year. cerned about his babies—not just the that he wasn’t ready to retire,” Grubman In 1990, Bandier and Koppelman songs he wrote, but Smokey Robinson recalls. “He had the choice of either received the Abe Olman Publisher Award and Stevie Wonder and Holland-Dozier- going to Warner/Chappell or Sony/ATV, from the Hall of Fame. The Holland. He said ‘You’ve gotta sell those which was a much smaller company. following year, they sold their share of people on why you would make a differ- And Marty made the fateful decision SBK Records to EMI Music, making EMI ence.’ I was able to do that, but it was not that he wanted to work with a small the sole owner of the label. Bandier moved an easy task… Finally, I said, ‘Why don’t company rather than take over a big up to Chairman and CEO of EMI Music you just sell half the company to me and company—because EMI was a big com- Publishing, while Koppelman segued to I’ll make the other half worth twice the pany, and so was Warner/Chappell.” EMI Records Group North America. He amount?’ He’s a pretty smart guy and So Bandier took the top post at Sony/ was CEO of that company until 1997, he said, ‘I’ll take that deal.’” EMI Music ATV in April 2007 after striking a deal when he left the . later acquired another 30% of Jobete, that gave him a piece of the profits. “I In 1997, EMI purchased a 50% giving it an 80% share in the company. thought I was ready for a change and stake of Jobete Music Co. for $132 mil- Bandier was also responsible for wanted to do something that had an lion. At the time, Bandier called it the the purchases of Filmtrax in 1991 and entrepreneurial bent to it that offered an highlight of his career. “It’s the greatest Windswept Pacific in 1999, establishing opportunity to share in the growth of a American body of music produced dur- a pattern of buying smaller pubcos and company,” he told AP at the time. ing the 20th century,” he said. merging them to make them more efficient He immediately went into his aggres- In the Q&A at Syracuse, which was and increasingly profitable. sively acquisitive mode, negotiating the moderated by Variety Senior Music Edi- When, in late 2005, Bandier asked acquisition of two prized catalogs—the tor Jem Aswad, Bandier called the Jobete EMI to sell him its publishing unit, the Famous Music catalog from Viacom for acquisition one of the most challenging company turned him down; he resigned a reported $370 million and the Leiber & deals he has ever done. less than a year later. Stoller catalog for a reported $40 million.

HE’S THEIR GUY: With Leonard Cohen and

38 PUFF PIECES: With Gerardo and Koppelman, Rod Stewart, Wilson Phillips, Janet Jackson and Neil Diamond

n November 2011, Sony Corp. of Taylor America and an investor group Swift. At purchased EMI Music Publishing, the BMI with Sony/ATV administering Pop Awards the catalog. The move reunited in May 2018, Bandier and the songs he had over- Sony/ATV seen for 17 years at EMI Music. was named The deal cost a then-whopping Publisher of I$2.2 billion. “It was not an easy the Year for the task to put together that type of financ- fourth time in the past five years. Sheeran, ing,” Bandier said at Syracuse. “It was Camila Cabello and Alessia Cara each an incredible array of songs and worth received three awards. every penny, but it was a difficult trans- Sony/ATV has also been involved in action and a lot of juggling.” several long-running stage shows. Mamma Four years later, Sony bought out the Mia!, featuring the ABBA catalog, ran Jackson Estate for a reported $750 mil- on Broadway for nearly 14 years. Jersey lion to gain full ownership of Sony/ATV. Boys, featuring hits by Seasons, And by 2018, under Bandier’s savvy ran for more than 11 years. : leadership, EMI had more than doubled The Musical ran for nearly two years. in value to $4.7 billion, at which point Beautiful: The Carole King Musical has Sony bought out the other investors been running for more than four years. and formalized the union of the two Bandier has called out such digi- companies—in what was undoubtedly tal services as Pandora and an extremely gratifying moment for the Spotify for failing to properly man who had transformed both into compensate songwriters. In powerhouses. The combined value of a letter to his staff that went Sony/ATV and EMP is now believed to public, Bandier complained that be in the $6-7 billion range. the songwriters of the megahits Sony/ATV had its most successful “Happy” (Pharrell Williams) year in terms of both revenue and profit and “All of Me” (John Legend and in 2017, according to Bandier, thanks Toby Gad) earned surprisingly mea- to such superstars as Ed Sheeran and ger royalties from streaming and on-

38 39 EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: With and Jay-Z “We’re not afraid to fight for our songwriters. I’m the least contentious person you’d ever want to meet, and I find myself in arguments with the Department of Justice and the heads of Spotify and YouTube.”

demand . In the first three months is as if the songwriters do not exist, and darkest days several years ago, he was of 2014, 55 million plays of “Happy” the only people who matter are the record- feeling guilty about the students going generated just $3,400, and 42 million ing artists,” he said in a 2017 speech, into the program. “I was saying to myself, plays of “All of Me” resulted in just accepting a Lifetime Service Award from ‘God, all these kids who love music and $2,700. “This is a totally unacceptable the National Music Publishers Assn. want to be in the business—their passion situation, and one that cannot be allowed “However, without the coming was so great—am I putting them in a posi- to continue,” Bandier wrote in the letter. up with the words and music in the first tion of doom and gloom?’ Now, we get (He wisely didn’t add that he probably place, there would be nothing for the art- 400 applications for 30 spots [each year].” spends more than that on cigars.) ist to record and no music to stream. The Bandier has received countless hon- “We’re not afraid to fight for our song- irony is that the role of the non-performing ors. In 1994, he received the Arents writers,” Bandier explained at Syracuse. songwriter in creating hit songs is probably Award, the highest alumni honor, from “I’m the least contentious person you’d greater today than it has been in any time Syracuse. In June 2003, he was inducted ever want to meet, and I find myself in since the heyday of Tin Pan Alley, when into the for a arguments with the Department of Justice the NMPA was actually founded.” second time, as a Patron of the Arts. In and the heads of Spotify and YouTube.” In 2006, Bandier founded the Bandier February 2015, he became the first music Bandier is also a tireless advocate for Program for Music and Entertainment publisher to be honored at the annual songwriters to get more recognition. One Industries at Syracuse. In a recent inter- Grammy Salute to Industry Icons. Bandier of his pet peeves is that songwriter credits view with the Los Angeles Times, Bandier is a board member of ASCAP, the are hard to find on streaming services. “It admitted that, in the music industry’s Songwriters Hall of Fame, the NMPA and

40 PLAYERS (clockwise from top left): With Doug Morris, Kaz and Riko Hirai, Allen and Deborah Grubman; on the links with Darius Rucker and Tiger Woods; with Dottie Harris-Bandier and Clive Davis

“There’s nobody out there with his level of knowledge and sophistication, and it shows: Every company he’s run has grown every year. When you talk about the great record guys, like Mo Ostin, Ahmet Ertegun and Clive Davis, Marty is their equivalent in music publishing.” —Allen Grubman

the City of Hope. He is also a trustee of or the poshest suite at Hotel Du Cap in will mark the final chapter of his the T.J. Martell Foundation and a direc- Cap D’Antibes. The staffers at the premier illustrious career. Indeed, specula- tor of MusiCares. golf courses know him as a famously big tion about his next move—and the He and his wife Dorothy live in tipper who always snags those most desir- potential investors who were likely Manhattan with their son, Max. He able tee times. He and Dorothy have been clamoring for a meeting to discuss also has two grown daughters, Allison on the New York social-scene A-list for that move—began as soon as news and Jenifer. years and are avid art collectors. In short, spread that he’d be stepping down Bandier is a high roller par excel- Marty is the emperor of all he surveys. from Sony/ATV. lence, boasting a lifestyle as outsized as “The music business is like the his beloved Double Robusto Cohibas. hile the con- alcohol business,” is how he He’s a veritable Air Bandier, zipping clusion of his explained his passion to The around the globe in his private jet. You tenure atop Guardian. “We drink when we’re can spot him courtside at Madison the world’s happy, we drink when we’re sad. Square Garden for Knicks games, or biggest pubco We just continue drinking because behind the backstop at Yankee Stadium has undoubt- we enjoy it.” for the World Series, or at the net for the edly been In all likelihood he’ll be uncork- finals of the U.S. Open. He always gets bittersweet, ing something new soon enough— the most coveted table at the best restau- few in the accompanied by a Double Robusto rants in NYC, , L.A. and , Wbiz believe it Cohiba, of course.•

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