EMI pays pounds 11.5m for stake in Phil Collins music publisher

THE RECORD company giant EMI said yesterday it had taken a 51 per cent stake in Hit & Run Music Publishing, giving it a lucrative boost to its songs list.

EMI paid pounds 11.5m cash for the stake in Hit & Run, which owns the copyright to hits by Genesis, Phil Collins, Julian Lennon and Right Said Fred. Under the deal EMI will get a share of the publishing rights to the 8,000 songs in Hit & Run's catalogue, including Phil Collins' solo hit, Another Day in Paradise, and I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred. The deal will not affect Hit & Run's management company, which represents Phil Collins, Genesis, Mike & the Mechanics, or its Hit & Run Productions business.

Hit & Run, based in central London, was set up in 1977 by Tony Smith and Jon Crawley. Mr Smith remains as the company's chairman and Mr Crawley continues to manage the company on a day-to-day basis.

EMI, whose stable of artists includes the Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams, already has copyright control over more than one million songs.

The Hit & Run deal follows a pounds 126m agreement in which EMI bought most of the catalogue of songs published by Windswept Pacific. That deal saw EMI acquire more than 40,000 titles,from early rock and roll to modern pop songs by artists including the Spice Girls.