Viacom tunes out music biz.(Brief article)

Daily Variety, February, 2007 by Goldsmith, Jill

Viacom wants to unload its music publishing business, Famous Music, some months after the conglom lost a bid to buy much larger BMG Music Publishing. Universal acquired the BMG biz, which has more than 1 million copyrights, in September for $2.1 billion. Warner Music bid for BMG, too.

EMI was interested, as was Gotham's Zelnick Media. Music publishing continues to grow even as CD sales contract. Business has become increasingly lucrative from downloads, ringtones, ringbacks and other new services that draw heavily ...