Music publishers Australia’s music industry is in talks to take ownership of the Australian music industry.
The new owners of Australian publishers will take over their publishing businesses, according to the Australian Music Publishing Association.
Australian Music Publishing is one of several Australian publishers to consider taking control of their publishing operations after the music industry lost its largest publishing asset, the ABC reported Tuesday.
The deal is expected to be announced as soon as Wednesday.
The announcement comes just a few weeks after the publisher’s CEO announced that he would be leaving the company and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the news on Wednesday.
“The Australian Music Publishers Association is pleased to announce it has been approached to explore options to acquire the publishing businesses of Australian music publishers,” the association said in a statement.
“As a result of these discussions, it is in the best interests of all the stakeholders of the industry to engage in this process.”
“The new Australian Music Publisher will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the publishing companies and they will remain fully invested in the industry,” the statement said.
The Australian Entertainment Group, which is a subsidiary of the music publishing company, was one of the other publishers that expressed interest in the acquisition.
The group owns the major music websites in Australia, including the Music and Music Business and the Music Review.
The association said it was “deeply disappointed” by the news, but had not been made aware of any other potential takeover plans by the publisher.
The statement said it had “no plans to engage with any other Australian publishers.”
The ABC reported that some of the potential new owners would be looking to sell off the Australian publishing assets in order to buy the publishing assets at a higher price.
The new owners will be looking at the price of the business, as well as the cost of the acquisition, according the ABC.
The move to acquire publishing assets comes as Australian music and music publishing companies are losing out on the music market as publishers are forced to shutter the sites in the wake of record labels and artists leaving the industry.