Urban Network is very elated to get Mr. Renzer’s first official interview since UMPG’s acquisition of the BMG-Zomba publishing companies. It’s been a year-long process for this CEO and his team. They’ve inherited some of the most celebrated songwriters-artists in the business through this new acquisition—thus integrating them into an existing and successful UMPG roster that was already a dominant force in chart share.

First off, share with us your feelings on Universal Music Publishing Group’s acquisition of the BMG-Zomba publishing companies.
It’s very exciting both from a creative point of view and from a business point of view, being a part of the team that’s now leading the No. 1 publishing company in the world. Looking at the roster right after the acquisition, both BMG and Zomba exploded with R. Kelly at No.1, T-Pain at No. 1, UGK at No. 1, Ne Yo, Maroon 5, and many others, and then to couple that with the roster that was already at Universal Music Publishing Group is quite amazing. Our writers recently had 42 of the Hot 100 R&B singles; 37 of the Hot 100 Pop Singles; and 4 out of the Top 5 singles. Universal Music Publishing Group is now certainly number one in market share, and number one worldwide on a revenue basis as well. We are officially the No. 1 music publishing company in the world.

On an executive level, we’re emerging with a powerhouse executive team on a global level. Our New York office is now headed by David Mantel, who was formerly heading Zomba Music Publishing. He’s the new EVP, East Coast for the combined companies. Our executive team for urban music includes Ethiopia Habtemariam and Jessica Rivera along with Jennifer Blakeman in N.Y. and Donna Caseine, Maani Edwards, and Andrea Torchia in L.A. Our executive V.P. and Head of Creative is Tom Sturges. We have a fantastic team of executives in every genre including the urban side, and the same applies in film and television—with the combination of BMG, Zomba and existing Universal Music Publishing Group people. We’re right on track - in fact, I think we’re ahead of schedule - in terms of the company’s integration process.

How significant is urban music to the UMPG portfolio?
Hugely significant! Personally, it is part of my background when I was an executive at Zomba for ten years [prior to joining MCA Publishing—now Universal Music Publishing]. Urban music is global now and continues to crossover to Pop. We continue to invest heavily in “A” level talent. Recently, when Babyface was available as a writer, we jumped at that opportunity to bring in someone like him. You have to back a talent like that. When we signed Polow, no one knew who he was. But [Vice President, Urban Music, UMPG] Ethiopia Habtemariam believed in him and really helped to develop him into the hot commodity that he is today. Even as we have been heavily involved with the integration, we’ve still been aggressive in signing key talent, like Lil Jon, and many others.  Our urban roster is truly a who’s who in urban music. We also feel that we can offer outlets to our writers that are unique, such as our close relationship with our sister Film Studio (Universal) and all the movie studios, access to the hottest group of record labels in the business (IDJ, Interscope/Geffen/A&M/Universal), collaborations with an amazing roster of talent such as Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, Ne Yo, T –Pain, R Kelly,  Polow, Dre and Vidal and many many others.

What are your thoughts currently on the state of digital rights management? Where is the publishing community in resolving many of its issues?
I’m concerned in the short-term, yet optimistic in the long-term view. In the short term, I’m incredibly frustrated that our songwriters are not getting paid for subscription services because of the rateless deals that were agreed upon in 2000 and 2001, between the RIAA and NMPA/ HFA when the labels were launching their subscription services. There are also various unresolved digital licensing issues in many other territories and regions of the world (Latin America and S.E. Asia). Our digital revenue is lower than it should be. Digital revenue, as a percentage of overall revenue, is about 7-8% for most major publishers today. It’s much higher for the labels, probably in the 20% range or greater.

In the U.S. there is a Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) process going on in Washington, D,C. There will be three judges (not very familiar with our industry), who will decide five different rates key to the future of our industry. These rates will include; the physical rate for CDs, the digital download rate, the rate for interactive streaming, (subscription service rate), and the rate for ringtones. Those are all very important issues. We expect a resolution in the Fall of 2008 to the CRB process. In addition there are the complicated questions such as, “Is there a performance in a download?” and “Is there a mechanical in a stream?” We have a host of complicated issues that need to be resolved.

In what state is music publishing today?
I believe that music publishing is looked at differently now than in years past. We are viewed as a very important asset, and an important and stable part of the revenue mix for the major music groups. That’s why a company such as ours is willing to invest two billion dollars in the acquisition of the BMG-Zomba music publishing companies. There’s now a healthy appetite to continue to invest in music publishing, which is very positive for us. Yet, our business is facing some of the same challenges that the record labels are facing. Mechanicals are continuing to decline. So, we have to work harder to counter that. We have to push harder in the synchronization area where we can still grow our business. Universal Music Publishing Group is going to have the largest synch department of any publishing company in the world with dedicated synch people in every major territory in the world. And because of our working relationships with film studios, TV studios, broadcasters, and our position as the No.1 production-music library business in the world, we have some unique abilities to really help our writers and producers get their music into film and TV and to really keep growing that part of the business.

We also continue to explore and push for new revenue opportunities, which we have been very successful with. For instance, through our  lyric merchandising programs. [Universal EVP, Creative] Tom Sturges along with [Chris Brown’s manager] Tina Davis have been spearheading the launch of a hip-hop comic book, “Hip Hop Chronicles,”  that’s going to utilize our songs and lyrics. We’re hoping to turn that into TV production, concerts and other opportunities.

Fortunately, performance income continues to be strong and growing globally. Publishing continues to thrive because of our diverse revenue streams, and our industry overall is showing growth. We expect that to continue, along with continued re-investment in new talent. New talent is essential to our business. A strong creative department is paramount, and having the marketing focus of being able to offer our writers and producers opportunities that they can’t get at other companies is something we take a lot of pride in.

One of the major philanthropic ventures that you personally spearhead is the annual Songs of Hope event. What can we expect this year?
We are in the early stages of a spring 2008 event that’s going to happen in Los Angeles. We expect Clive Davis to again participate. He was generous to sponsor the “Clive Davis Legends in Songwriting Award” which we presented to Stevie Wonder last year. We also have the Marty Bandier New Horizon’s Award for an exciting newcomer. We’re expecting those gentlemen to be involved again. We’ve held the event at Babyface’s home, Lionel Richie’s home, last year’s event was at the Esquire House. It’s become an important charity event for the publishing-songwriting community, and it’s for the City of Hope, which is a great cause.