Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) Announces Key Nashville Appointments Following BMG Music Acquisition

PAT HIGDON TO LEAD COMBINED NASHVILLE DIVISION
RON STUVE APPOINTED VICE PRESIDENT OF A&R/SPECIAL PROJECTS

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), the world’s leading music publishing company, today announced that Pat Higdon, Executive Vice President & General Manager of UMPG Nashville, will now lead the newly combined Nashville division. Mr. Higdon will continue to be based in Nashville and report to UMPG Chairman & CEO David Renzer. The announcement follows the successful close by Universal Music Group of its acquisition of BMG Music Publishing, making the new UMPG the largest publishing company in the world.

Also being announced today is the appointment of Ron Stuve to Vice President of A&R/Special Projects for UMPG Nashville. Mr. Stuve will report directly to Mr. Higdon. Formerly, Mr. Stuve served as Vice President of A&R/General Manager of BMG Music Publishing’s Nashville-based Country Music division.

“Pat’s passion, creativity, and vision have helped our Nashville operation to become a company renowned for its creative excellence worldwide,” stated Mr. Renzer. “I\’m delighted to recognize all of Pat’s achievements with this appointment, and happy to welcome Ron Stuve to the UMPG family. These appointments signal to the Nashville community that we are committed to growing this area of our business even further.”

“What we’ve achieved in Nashville over the last several years is a real testament to UMPG’s assets - its artists, songwriters, catalogs and employees,” added Mr. Higdon. “I\’m thankful to David for his continued support and am thrilled with this opportunity to continue building on the great results we’ve already achieved artistically and commercially. Moreover, it’s a delight to welcome Ron to the UMPG family. He is an incredibly talented, energetic and creative executive, and I know that he will play a pivotal role as we take the newly combined company to even greater heights.”

Widely recognized as one of Nashville\’s most successful “song pluggers,” with over one hundred and fifty top-ten chart recordings to his credit, Mr. Higdon broke into the music industry in the early 70\’s as a recording engineer at one of Nashville\’s then more prominent studios, Woodland Sound. This was quickly followed by creative positions at Cedarwood Publishing company and MCA Music. In the late `80s, Mr. Higdon joined Warner/Chappell Music, where he eventually founded Patrick Joseph Music as a joint venture with the company. Mr. Higdon later established a similar relationship in 1992 with Los Angeles-based Windswept Pacific Entertainment. The success of Patrick Joseph Music’s boutique catalog, including

such hit songs as award-winning “Strawberry Wine” and “I Can Love You Like That,” caught the attention of Universal Music Publishing Group and he was tapped to run their Nashville operation in 1999, eventually rising to Executive Vice President & General Manager. While at UMPG, Mr. Higdon oversees one of Nashville’s most successful music catalogs, including the works of Bob McDill, Matraca Berg, Gary Burr, Troy Verges and Rivers Rutherford, Mel Tillis, & Craig Wiseman, among many others. Rivers Rutherford was named ASCAP\’s Nashville Songwriter of the Year for 2006.

Mr. Stuve joined BMG in 1997 and most recently held the post of Vice President, Repertoire Department, in the Nashville office. A seasoned creative executive, Mr. Stuve is responsible for placing some of the biggest recent country hits including “God’s Will” and “This One’s For The Girls” for Martina McBride and “19 Somethin’” for Mark Wills. His writer/producer signings include newcomers Jason Michael Carrol and Jake Owen, and Chris Lindsey (Chris Cagle, Martina McBride, Lonestar). Prior to joining BMG, Mr. Stuve was Vice President of AMR/New Haven Music, which was acquired by BMG in 1997.