Publishing Briefs: ‘Lion King’ Composer Sells Rights to Reservoir, Plus Kobalt Signs Ela Taubert

Reservoir has acquired the rights to composer Lebohang Morake, professionally known as Lebo M. Lebo, who is best known for his work on The Lion King franchise. From South Africa, the renowned composer, arranger, producer and performer first broke through as a collaborator of Hans Zimmer, who has also sold part of his catalog to Reservoir, on the soundtrack for The Power of One (1992). He then reunited with Zimmer on The Lion King two years later, writing and performing songs like “Circle of Life” for the legendary Disney film. He has also worked on the soundtracks for many of the subsequent films in The Lion King franchise. This includes his soundtrack for the upcoming prequel Mufasa: The Lion King, which was co-composed by Lin Manuel Miranda. His other contributions to film soundtracks include Dinosaur, Back on the Block, The Life of Quincy Jones, Congo, Long Night’s Journey into Day, Tears of the Sun, The Legend of Tarzan, and The Woman King.

OTM Music has announced new publishing deals with Hemlocke Springs, Erick the Architect and Leon Michels, a touring member of The Black Keys and producer for Clairo, Norah Jones and Lee Fields. The company is also bringing on a new U.S. Head of A&R, Emmy Feldman, to the OTM Music team. Launched in 2017 by CEO Alex Sheridan, OTM Music is a fast-growing boutique publisher that serves a diverse array of songwriting talent, including Sudan Archives, Metronomy, Still Woozy, HONNE, Dot Da Genius and Sub Focus.

Kobalt has signed rising Latin artist Ela Taubert and her longtime producer KEVN to global publishing agreements. Hailing from Colombia, Taubert announced her deal with Kobalt just a month after winning the Latin GRAMMY Award for Best New Artist and performing her hit “¿Como Paso?” with Joe Jonas at the ceremony.

Warner Chappell Music and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth have signed a joint venture publishing agreement with musician, songwriter and producer Dan Swank. Over the years, Swank has played a crucial role in the writing, producing and mixing of releases by Pale Waves, Knox, Taylor Acorn, Mitchell Tenpenny, Charlotte Sands and more.

Berlin-based Bosworth Music GmbH, part of Wise Music Group, has announced the signing of Janus Rasmussen to a global publishing deal. A producer, composer and artist, Rasmussen hails from the Faroe Islands and is based in Reykjavik. An accomplished producer, composer and artist Rasmussen started his career with the Nordic Music Council Prize-nominated debut album “Vín,” which saw him honing his minimal techno chops into an hour-long exploration of acoustic textures and electronic sound design. Aside from his own music, Janus performs alongside Ólafur Arnalds as one half of Kiasmos. Arnalds was also recently signed to the same company.