American publishing and distribution Company
Hal Leonard LLC
(formerly
Hal Leonard Corporation
) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in
Winona, Minnesota
, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Currently headquartered in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, it is the largest
sheet music
publisher in the world.
[1]
It is now part of
Muse Group
.
History
[
edit
]
1947 to 2016
[
edit
]
The company produces sheet music, songbooks, and method book (with audio) packs, and band, orchestra, and choral arrangements, reference books, instructional videos, and instrumental accompaniments.
[2]
In addition, they distribute other brands, such as Gibraltar, Gretsch Drums, Avid, Blue Microphones, and many more. In 1989, Hal Leonard acquired Jenson Publications and its catalog of band, orchestra, and choral titles. In 1995, Hal Leonard began distributing
Homespun Music Instruction
instructional video and audio materials.
In 1997, Hal Leonard and Music Sales Group founded SheetMusicDirect.com, the world's first website for digital sheet music and guitar tablature. In 2004, Hal Leonard acquired Applause Theatre and Cinema Books.
[3]
In 2006, Hal Leonard acquired Amadeus Press and Limelight Editions.
[4]
Also in 2006, Hal Leonard acquired Backbeat Books, which publishes the
AllMusic
reference guide and other music-related publications, from
CMP
.
[5]
In 2009, Hal Leonard acquired
Shawnee Press
from
Music Sales Group
.
[6]
In 2014, Hal Leonard acquired
Noteflight
, an online music notation service and a community for sharing scores.
[7]
Private equity firm
Seidler Equity Partners acquired majority ownership of the company in June 2016.
[8]
Following the change in ownership, Hal Leonard was reorganized from a corporation to a
limited liability company
.
2017 to present
[
edit
]
In 2017, Hal Leonard acquired the online music retailer
Sheet Music Plus
. In 2018, Hal Leonard purchased the physical and online printed music businesses of global independent music publisher The Music Sales Group. They also acquired Groove3, a leading website specializing in music technology tutorial videos. In December 2018, Hal Leonard announced it had sold five of its trade imprints?Hal Leonard Books, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, Amadeus Press, Backbeat Books, and Limelight Editions?to
Rowman & Littlefield
.
[9]
As of 2020, Hal Leonard publishes, distributes, and represents the print music interests for a myriad of publishing companies, both classical and popular. In North America, Hal Leonard is the exclusive licensee of the print rights for
Disney Music Group
and
Universal Music Publishing Group
. Hal Leonard is also the North American distributor of numerous American and European classical publishers, including
G. Schirmer, Inc.
,
Boosey & Hawkes
,
Editions Durand
, and Faber Piano Adventures. Through its acquisition of numerous school music publishing companies over the past 40 years, Hal Leonard is currently one of the largest music publishers in the field of music education; its primary competitor in the educational market is
Alfred Music
.
The Hal Leonard corporate headquarters is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their distribution, production and warehousing facilities are in Winona, Minnesota. They also have offices in Austin, Boston, and San Francisco. It also has offices abroad in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Italy, Switzerland, as well as in London and Bury St. Edmunds in England.
Hal Leonard has sponsored many awards to young musicians and educators. Hal Leonard has partnered with the Jazz Education Network to offered the Hal Leonard Collegiate Scholarship, which was awarded to Tanner Guss in 2017.
[10]
In 2023, Hal Leonard was acquired by
Muse Group
, owners of other sheet music-related products such as
MuseScore
,
Ultimate Guitar
, and
StaffPad
.
[11]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"What We Learned In The New Economy"
.
Fast Company
. United States: Fast Company, Inc. March 1, 2004. p. 6.
Archived
from the original on 2013-10-09
. Retrieved
August 9,
2009
.
- ^
"Hal Leonard Online - About Us"
.
Hal Leonard Corporation
.
Archived
from the original on 2014-01-30
. Retrieved
January 27,
2014
.
- ^
"Hal Leonard Assumes Ownership Of Applause Books"
.
PublishersWeekly.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2018-04-22
. Retrieved
2018-04-21
.
- ^
"Hal Leonard Buys Amadeus Press and Limelight Editions"
.
Library Journal
. 2006-03-01
. Retrieved
2018-04-21
.
- ^
"Hal Leonard buys Backbeat Books for $2.2M"
.
Milwaukee Business Journal
. United States:
American City Business Journals
. November 20, 2006.
Archived
from the original on 2009-08-15
. Retrieved
August 9,
2009
.
- ^
"Hal Leonard Acquires Shawnee Press"
.
Archived
from the original on 2017-09-27
. Retrieved
2017-09-27
.
- ^
Berkovitz, Joe (April 15, 2014).
"Noteflight is now part of Hal Leonard Corporation"
. Noteflight.com.
Archived
from the original on 2014-10-24
. Retrieved
April 16,
2014
.
- ^
Dill, Molly (June 29, 2016).
"Majority of Hal Leonard shares sold to private equity firm"
. BizTimes.
- ^
Milliot, Jim (December 17, 2018).
"Rowman & Littlefield Acquires Hal Leonard Trade Titles"
. Publishers Weekly.
- ^
"Playin' Around With Playbook: Tanner Guss"
.
Playbook
. 2022-04-04
. Retrieved
2022-05-23
.
- ^
Rothman, Philip (2023-12-04).
"Muse Group acquires Hal Leonard"
.
ScoringNotes
. Retrieved
2023-12-04
.
External links
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