Earle Hagen, one of the entertainment industry\'s most prolific and well-respected TV and film composers, has signed an exclusive worldwide administration deal with Spirit Music Group, it was announced today by Mark Fried, CEO of Spirit Music Group.
The pact marks Hagen\'s first administration deal in more than six decades of composing. Under the deal, Spirit will represent more than 3,000 scores and themes composed for such classic TV series as The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mod Squad and I Spy, for which he earned an Emmy award for Best Theme in 1967.
The New York-based independent music publisher will market and promote Hagen\'s classic TV themes for synchronization for new film/TV uses, ring tones, and games, as well as for new creative uses in recordings, mixes and sampling.
"Earle Hagen\'s vast catalog contains some of the most familiar themes and score pieces of the 20th Century," said Fried. He added, "We are honored to be working with Earle in re-purposing these compositions for licensing into a wide array of traditional and non-traditional media."
Hagen has gained acclaim for his popular TV themes and scores, but is also noted for the musical innovation that characterized his work. For two decades, Hagen was the resident musical director for legendary TV producer Sheldon Leonard. Other series for which he provided the theme music include The Danny Thomas Show, Gomer Pyle, Mayberry RFD, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, That Girl, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Don Rickles Show and Mary Hartman, Mary Harman, among others.
Hagen\'s career began after World War II, when he joined 20th Century Fox, where he orchestrated many films in the late ‘40s and ‘50s, including Carousel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Daddy Long Legsand Flower Drum Song. In 1960, he earned an Oscar nomination as co-musical director of Let\'s Make Love. Hagen was also a freelance composer, providing orchestrations and arrangements for legends like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. During his stint with the Ray Noble orchestra, he composed "Harlem Nocturne" which has remained a standard to this day. He was also a house arranger for several record labels, including Liberty, Mercury and MGM. Two of his books, Scoring For Film (1971) and Advanced Techniques For Film Scoring (1990), have become must-reads for modern composers. Further, the Earle Hagen Workshop, offered for more than a decade under the auspices of BMI and the National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences, provided specialized instruction in the art of film scoring. Hagen also received BMI\'s Richard Kirk Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1981 and the organization\'s President\'s Award in 1995. ASCAP honored him with the Irwin Kostal Award.
ABOUT SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP
Spirit Music Group, founded in 1995, is the fastest growing independent music publisher of the last decade, owning and/or managing more than 15,000 songs spanning 7 decades and every musical genre. The company\'s repertoire reflects some of the most beloved songs and songwriters including hits and gems by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday, Elmore James, Elvis Presley, Charles Mingus, Dion, The Beach Boys, Alice Cooper, Pure Prairie League, Chaka Khan, The Go-Go\'s, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin and Mary J. Blige, and the complete catalogs of such iconic writer/artists as Bob Marley, Lou Reed, The Grateful Dead, The Marshall Tucker Band, Billy Squier, A Taste Of Honey, Angela Winbush and C&C Music Factory. The company has earned a strong reputation as an aggressive royalty administrator and a peerless promoter of its songs into film, television and advertising productions as well as a wide range of new media. Spirit Music is based in New York with affiliate offices all over the world. For further information about Spirit Music Group, go to www.spiritmusicgroup.com