A subsidiary of Warner Music is mandated by France Brel to administer the work of her father, Jacques, of which she remains the owner and guarantor, unlike the David Bowie case whose catalog was sold, the parties announced on Sunday January 30 at the AFP.
“I am the opposite of these maneuvers (Bob Dylan or David Bowie, whose catalogs have been sold, Ed). I will never be able to sell my father’s catalog, I haven’t become mentally ill (laughs), it’s a partnership, to benefit from Warner’s global network”, explained France Brel to AFP. Matthieu Tessier, president of Warner Chappell Music France, adds: “We are not making an acquisition. As much as the Bowie catalog was acquired by Warner Chappell, there, Editions Jacques Brel (directed by France Brel) retain ownership of the work and the rights”, he told AFP
“We have a mandate to represent them, to ensure that rights are properly raised for them, to give them visibility and to send them proposals for use (film, show, etc.)”, continues the manager.
Warner Chappell has so far co-administered, with Editions Jacques Brel, 16 pieces from Jacques Brel’s repertoire, including standards such as Do not leave me Where The Thousand Time Waltz. On the base “of a renewable collaboration for five years”, according to France Brel, Warner Chappell will represent in the world (except Belgium) the “catalogue of Editions Jacques Brel, i.e. 130 titles”. What constitutes “the vast majority of his repertoire” according to Warner Chappell.
“The Warner Chappell teams, around 40 around the world, will look at the (operating) contracts, in countries where I don’t go every week, such as Indonesia or India”, continues the daughter of Jacques Brel, who remains the sole decision-maker to validate or not the uses of the work of “Grand Jacques”. “My mother, who took care of my father’s (musical) editions from 1962, had for example signed (operating) contracts in countries that no longer exist, such as Yugoslavia, she says. We don’t know what happened to it”.
“Warner will also be able to see if, for example, people who put on a show in Greece with songs by Jacques Brel are in good order with a rights collection company”, she details. Jacques Brel “is one of a handful of French-speaking singers world renowned for his interpretations and adaptations of Anglo-Saxon artists, which have become classics, for example in the United States”, develops Matthieu Tessier.
The author ofamsterdam has been taken over by Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, David Bowie or Marianne Faithfull. “This week, a guy contacted us to translate 50 songs into Finnish”, quotes France Brel again.