Sony/ATV Signs Little Mix Pair via TwentySeven JV

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed a worldwide deal with Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock from the multi-chart-topping group Little Mix through its new joint venture with TwentySeven Music Publishing and seasoned industry executive Barry Weiss and songwriter Jenna Andrews.

The BRIT award-winning Little Mix are one of the most successful British girl bands of all time having achieved 14 UK Top 10 singles, including five No. 1 hits, and scored five top five albums. They have also enjoyed considerable chart success around the world, including in the US where their album DNA became the first debut release by a British girl band to enter the Billboard 200’s top five.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing co-president, US Danny Strick said: “We are very excited to have launched this new joint venture with TwentySeven Music Publishing. Barry’s long and distinguished record in the industry speaks for itself and he has a first-rate partner in Jenna whose talents as a Sony/ATV songwriter are coupled with her gifts for discovering and nurturing talent. The JV is off to a great start with Little Mix and embodies the high expectations we have for this partnership.”

TwentySeven Music Publishing co-founders Barry Weiss and Jenna Andrews said: “We’re an unlikely pairing of business and creative but the alchemy really works. We’re ready to kill it in the world of music publishing and are excited about Little Mix, our other new signings and the opportunity to partner with everyone at Sony/ATV.”

Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock said: “We’re so excited to be a part of the Sony/ATV and TwentySeven team! It feels amazing after eight years in the industry to be recognised as songwriters! We can’t wait to begin our journey with Jenna Andrews and Barry Weiss.”

The Little Mix girls are one of several initial signings to TwentySeven Music Publishing, which has been set up as a joint venture between the world’s leading music publisher Sony/ATV and Barry Weiss and Jenna Andrews. Weiss, formerly an executive at Jive/RCA/Sony and Universal/Island Def Jam/Republic/Motown, is co-founder/partner of the Sony Music label venture RECORDS, where Sony/ATV songwriter Andrews is an A&R consultant. The new publishing venture’s operations include a studio setup in Los Angeles where A&R consultant Randi Razzano is based and there are plans to appoint an A&R consultant focusing on urban.

Also signed to TwentySeven are LA-based singer-songwriter and Asylum Records recording artist Anna Clendening and New Jersey songwriter, producer, engineer and DJ Rob Grimaldi who has worked extensively with Capitol Records act Queen Naija. The JV additionally has an administration deal with Wide Open Music whose roster includes songwriters Jimmie Allen, Matt Stell and Ash Bowers and which co-published Brett Young’s Billboard Country Airplay No. 1 hit and RIAA triple-platinum certified “In Case You Didn’t Know.”