Still sucking wind as far as good post ideas go, but it’s nothing a trivia quiz won’t cure.
What do lawyers and liner-note obsessives have in common? An interest in music publishing companies, among other things.
If you’ve read album covers or CD booklets, you’ve seen the names of at least a few music publishing companies, usually suffixed with ASCAP or BMI. These companies hold the copyright on an artist’s songs, and collect royalties based on the public use of those songs.
Some artists keep the names of their publishing companies basic, saving their imagination for the music.
“The Hustle,” for instance, was published by Van McCoy Music, while the artist who created Dirty Mind had his songs published by Ecnirp Music.
Other performers choose names with personal resonance, or make references to their music, or opt for something whimsical.
(At least one performer immortalized the company that published his music in a particularly listless and cynical song, dragging publishing companies forever out of obscurity.)
Here’s a list of 25 publishing companies used by (mostly) well-known rock performers. See if you can figure out — or, if you’re a liner-note junkie, remember — the artists behind the names.
We’ll start more or less easy, and get more or less harder. No prizes for guessing right, but feel free to leave your guesses in the comments. You know where they are. I’ll be back in a couple of days with the answers.
Oh, and no extra credit for knowing whether these are ASCAP or BMI:
1. James Osterberg Music
2. Jones Music
3. Cram Renraff
4. Fram-Dee Music
5. Daksel Music
6. Ram’s Horn Music
7. Wilojarston Music
8. Ceros Music
9. Boo-fant Tunes
10. Polish Prince Music
11. Flames of Albion Music
12. Lipstick Killers Pub. Inc.
13. Casserole Music
14. Vindaloo Productions
15. Ackee Music
16. Stay High Music
17. Ice Nine Publishing
18. Earmark Music
19. Plangent Visions Music
20. Yessup Music
21. Easy Money Music
22. Man-Ken Music
23. Fifth Floor Music
24. Found Farm Ballads
25. Canaan Music
Neck Pickup 
Polish Prince Music was Peter Cetera in the early 80s – NOT Bobby Vinton as you’d expect.
Awwwwright! You are correct. Thanks for breaking the ice and guessing.
(I thought Cetera was using Polish Prince Music as early as the mid-’70s, but it’s possible I am wrong. Definitely his, though.)
Iggy Pop is 1. I feel like 3 is an anagram, but I can’t figure it out. (I was thinking Marc Bolan until I got a look at the second word.) And I’m interested to see who the Vonnegut fan is at 17. And 16 could be anyone in the history of recorded music.
Also: 4 is Frampton and someone? Flames of Albion I’d say is the Libertines if I thought they had their own company at any point. Which I don’t. The rest, I am baffled. But eager to find out.
#7 is Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys.