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Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Brazil-based Rocking Gorillas joins IMPEL
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 24 November 2020
Another company has allied with IMPEL, the organisation that negotiates direct deals in the digital domain on behalf of an assortment of independent music publishers. This time it’s Brazil-based Rocking Gorillas, the most recent venture from music industry veteran John Telfer.
Having had a long career in artist management, recordings and publishing based out of both London and New York, Telfer set up his first company in Brazil in 2005, which he subsequently sold to BMG, resulting in a year spent as MD of BMG Brazil.
He then launched Rocking Gorillas in 2018, acting as a sub-publisher for various US and UK companies in the market as well as signing songwriting talent directly.
Confirming that company was allying with IMPEL on its digital licensing, Telfer says he was initially intrigued about the indie licensing consortium because “many of its founders – the likes of Annette Barrett and Mike Box at Reservoir, Simon Platz at Bucks and Andy Heath at Beggars Music – are all my contemporaries, and are people I like and respect”.
The “deciding factor”, for joining, he adds, “was meeting CEO Sarah Williams, who has a deep knowledge and understanding of our evolving world – along with genuine likeability! We are very happy about becoming part of IMPEL and intend to be a very active member”.
The there mentioned Williams says: “It’s great news for IMPEL that our membership network is now reaching into Brazil. This adds breadth to our licensed repertoire and brings another highly-experienced publisher into the IMPEL fold. I know John’s perspective will be extremely valuable to us, and we look forward to working with him and his team to drive up income for Rocking Gorillas and their writers”.
