Spirit Music Group Acquires Cal IV Entertainment

Pictured (L-R): Peter Shane (SVP, Creative Services, Spirit Music Group), Jon Singer (CFO, Spirit Music Group), Daniel Hill (Cal IV), David Renzer (Chairman, Spirit Music Group), Mark Fried (President, Spirit Music Group), Art Levy (VP of Business & Administration, Spirit Music Group), Ross Cameron (Manager of Finance & Business Development, Spirit Music Group)

Spirit Music Group has acquired Nashville-based independent music publisher, production and artist management company Cal IV Entertainment, which marks the launch of Spirit Music Nashville.

This is Spirit’s first official presence on Music Row. Spirit will assume the Cal IV Nashville offices, with Cal IV head Daniel Hill being named president of Spirit Music Nashville, Billy Lynn becoming VP of Creative, and other existing Cal IV staffers remaining with the company. Hill will report to Spirit Chairman David Renzer, who was named to that post earlier this year after a long tenure leading Universal Music Publishing Group.

Along with the publishing operation, Spirit assumes ownership of Cal IV’s subsidiary Fore Artists, an artist management company overseen by Dan Harrell.

Renzer stated, “The acquisition of Cal IV represents a ‘trifecta’ for Spirit—adding great catalog including important pop and country copyrights, hot writers and artists and an incredible staff—lead by successful veterans Daniel Hill and Billy Lynn, to build upon an incredibly solid foundation. We couldn’t be more excited about this significant step for Spirit as we accelerate the company’s growth.”

Spirit becomes the publisher of an active roster that includes Eric Paslay, Jim Collins, Rose Falcon, Matt Singleton, Eric Knutson, and Britanny Taylor (Triple Run). The company’s catalog includes “Breathe” (recorded by Faith Hill), “Stupid Boy” (Keith Urban), “Big Green Tractor” (Jason Aldean) and more, as well as an extensive catalog of songs by former Cal IV writers such as Dave Berg (Billboard’s 2007 Country Songwriter of the Year, NSAI’s 2007 Songwriter of the Year, ASCAP’s 2008 Country Songwriter of the Year), Jim McBride, Odie Blackmon, Marla Cannon-Goodman, Trent Tomlinson, Holly Lamar, Georgia Middleman (Blue Sky Riders with Kenny Loggins and Gary Burr) and Ted Russell Kamp (Shooter Jennings), among many others.

Spirit purchased Cal IV from the Turner family, which includes Cal III and Cal, Jr. “I am proud of what we have accomplished over the last fourteen years at Cal IV and am very grateful to Cal, III and Cal, Jr. for their generous support. I am thrilled to be able to continue to build upon their legacy and our considerable momentum as Spirit Music Nashville,” added Hill. “Spirit and Cal IV are kindred companies and the fit between the two could not be better. Joining forces with Spirit Music will create synergies that individually we could not attain, and will enable us to take the catalog and our songwriters to a whole new level of success.”

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