New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ SONY ATV) Sony/ATV
Music Publishing has today announced it has extended its long-term worldwide deal with writer, DJ and producer Calvin Harris.
The new extension will take the company's relationship with Harris beyond a decade and comes ahead of the release of the follow-up to his record-breaking third album "
18 Months". The deal includes a partnership with Calvin Harris's record label Fly Eye.
Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV Chairman and CEO, said: "We are thrilled to be extending our long-running relationship with
Calvin Harris who stands as a true musical phenomenon of our age. He is an international chart-topping recording artist, a hugely talented songwriter with a gift for coming up with global hit after global hit, often by himself, and he remains one of the world's most successful D.J.s. If he could also learn to strike the ball like Lionel Messi I'd want to come back as him in my next life."
Calvin Harris said: "Guy Moot and his team have given me great support and opportunities over many years, and I'm excited to extend my deal and continue our success together."
Mark Gillespie, Harris' manager at Three Six Zero Group, said: "Sony ATV have been a great publisher and now partner to Calvin and Fly Eye."
Guy Moot, Sony/ATV President of UK and European Creative, said: "Calvin Harris is one of the greatest songwriters in the world today and stands out among those in the electronic music world as truly appreciating the value of songwriting and building up a legacy of hits. He really understands the importance of writing songs."
Since he first signed a publishing deal in 2006 ahead of agreeing a recording contract, the multi-talented Scot has risen to become one of the most influential and successful songwriters and record producers in contemporary music, while was recently named by Forbes magazine as the highest-earning DJ in the world for a second year running. He has to date sold 40 million singles worldwide.
His long list of hits includes not only ones bearing his own name as a recording artist, but songs he has composed for or alongside many of the world's biggest superstars, including Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Ellie Goulding, Mary J. Blige, Florence Welch and Kylie Minogue.
He has written 10 UK No. 1 singles, comprising his own fronted hits "
I'm Not Alone", "
Sweet Nothing" (with Florence Welch), "
Under Control" (with
Alesso and Hurts), "
Summer" and "
Blame" (with John Newman) as well as "
We Found Love" for Rihanna, "
Dance Wiv Me" and "
Holiday" for Dizzee Rascal, "
Call My Name" for Cheryl and "
I Will Never Let You Down" for Rita Ora. He was named in
September as the first UK artist to achieve more than a billion streams worldwide on Spotify.
"
We Found Love" also became a No. 1 single in the US, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 weeks between 2011 and 2012 and is one of the biggest-selling digital tracks of all time there, with Nielsen SoundScan reporting more than 5 million download sales. It is also Rihanna's most successful single in the UK with nearly 1.4 million copies sold, according to Official Charts Company data, and was a No. 1 hit around the world, selling more than 10 million units in total.
The song, like so many of his biggest hits, was penned alone by Harris, bucking a modern trend in which global smashes are typically written by teams of writers. Also produced by and featuring him, "
We Found Love" proved to be a career breakthrough for him in the States as he led the EDM Invasion of the Billboard charts and he has since logged seven further Hot 100 entries under his own name, including Top 10 hits "
Sweet Nothing" and "
Summer".
"
We Found Love" has been covered by a number of leading artists, including Coldplay,
Kelly Clarkson,
Jessie J and Ed Sheeran, and was one of nine songs on Harris's third studio album "
18 Months" that made the Top 10 of the UK singles chart. This surpassed the previous record of eight Top 10 hits from one album set more than two decades earlier by Michael Jackson's "Bad".
The success of the album and its string of hit singles led him to be named Songwriter of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards in London in 2013, an historic breakthrough at the prestigious event for someone working largely in dance music.
He was named Songwriter of the Year in 2011 and 2012 by
Music Week magazine based on his songwriting success on the UK singles chart, while he was similarly recognized in 2012 by Billboard based on Hot 100 chart activity.
Since "
18 Months" Harris's chart-topping streak has continued, including achieving four UK No. 1 singles as a songwriter over the past 12 months, with his own hits "
Under Control", "
Summer" and "
Blame" alongside "
I Will Never Let You Down" for Rita Ora.
"Summer and "
Blame" are part of his fourth studio album "
Motion", which will be released on November 3 (November 4 in the US) and will follow "
I Created Disco" (2007), "
Ready For The Weekend" (2009) and "
18 Months" (2012).
