
John Fishlock
Managing Director & Head of Synch,
Active Music Publishing (Pty) Ltd
Westlake, South Africa
Active Music Publishing (Pty) Ltd
Westlake, South Africa
1981 - Air-Edel TV/Film Music - Worked alongside the likes of: Hans Zimmer, Roger Greenaway… 1982 - Air Studios, London, as engineer for Paul McCartney, Dire Straits & the legendary late George Martin, to name a few.
1984 - Chrysalis Music. Worked with host of top songwriters, securing first global #1 - "I knew you were waiting for me" - George Michael/Aretha Franklin. 1986 - MCA Music, running creative division, signing one of Europe's hottest acts - Fairground Attraction. 1989 - PolyGram, worked with acts from Lighthouse Family to Van Morrison, developed their film music division, which included the Music Supervision of the UK movie - "Four Weddings & A Funeral" and the huge #1 hit, “Love is all around”, by Wet Wet Wet. Posted to PolyGram Germany, founded their film publishing/record division.
1997 - relocated to South Africa, to launch PolyGram Music Publ., which later became Universal Music Publ. Over 13 years, the company grew from a handful of co-owned copyrights to the #3 Local Publisher and #1 Local/Intl. Publisher. Negotiated, o.b.o. the publishing industry, the first Digital License agreement with Exactmobile, setting a concrete precedence for all subsequent Digital Licenses in the country. The mechanical rights society in South Africa, CAPASSA, was John’s concept and brainchild, officially launched in 2014. CAPASSO is globally recognized and accepted as the mechanical rights society in South Africa, which also manages the digital rights across the African continent. Together with the support from the then CEO at SAMRO (Nick Motsatse), he created and formulated the model of the songwriter and publisher awards event, called the ‘WAWELA Awards’.
In 2010 John founded Active Music Publ. representing the likes of : Shekhinah, Sketchy Bongo, Kyle Deutsch, The Soil, Locnville, Tamara Dey, PJ Powers, Karen Zoid, Flat Stanley, Amy Jones, Amy Tjasink, Luke Goliath, Skatta, Ka$h, Deemo, Cosher, Alt Ego, DJ Mizz, Narch, Wandile Mbambeni, Veranda Panda, Zonke, Oshri, Kaien Cruz, Fred den Haretog (Heuwels Fantasties), DJ Mizz, Lloyd Cele, Theo Crous, aKing, Kurt Darren, Nicholis Louw, Ray Dylan, Keabetswe Motsilanyane, iFani, Lakota Silva, pH Nkuna, Ameen Harron, Jax Panik, Johnny de Ridder, Chad da Don, Francois van Coke, Fokofpolisikar, Ard Matthews, Jimmy Nevis and Cara Frew. Active also represents a select number of Intl. catalogues, which includes: Reservoir, Reverb, Fairwood, RZO, Strictly Confidential, Cosmos, Boosey & Hawks, Chaper 2/Cymba/ CSS & Sueco.
1984 - Chrysalis Music. Worked with host of top songwriters, securing first global #1 - "I knew you were waiting for me" - George Michael/Aretha Franklin. 1986 - MCA Music, running creative division, signing one of Europe's hottest acts - Fairground Attraction. 1989 - PolyGram, worked with acts from Lighthouse Family to Van Morrison, developed their film music division, which included the Music Supervision of the UK movie - "Four Weddings & A Funeral" and the huge #1 hit, “Love is all around”, by Wet Wet Wet. Posted to PolyGram Germany, founded their film publishing/record division.
1997 - relocated to South Africa, to launch PolyGram Music Publ., which later became Universal Music Publ. Over 13 years, the company grew from a handful of co-owned copyrights to the #3 Local Publisher and #1 Local/Intl. Publisher. Negotiated, o.b.o. the publishing industry, the first Digital License agreement with Exactmobile, setting a concrete precedence for all subsequent Digital Licenses in the country. The mechanical rights society in South Africa, CAPASSA, was John’s concept and brainchild, officially launched in 2014. CAPASSO is globally recognized and accepted as the mechanical rights society in South Africa, which also manages the digital rights across the African continent. Together with the support from the then CEO at SAMRO (Nick Motsatse), he created and formulated the model of the songwriter and publisher awards event, called the ‘WAWELA Awards’.
In 2010 John founded Active Music Publ. representing the likes of : Shekhinah, Sketchy Bongo, Kyle Deutsch, The Soil, Locnville, Tamara Dey, PJ Powers, Karen Zoid, Flat Stanley, Amy Jones, Amy Tjasink, Luke Goliath, Skatta, Ka$h, Deemo, Cosher, Alt Ego, DJ Mizz, Narch, Wandile Mbambeni, Veranda Panda, Zonke, Oshri, Kaien Cruz, Fred den Haretog (Heuwels Fantasties), DJ Mizz, Lloyd Cele, Theo Crous, aKing, Kurt Darren, Nicholis Louw, Ray Dylan, Keabetswe Motsilanyane, iFani, Lakota Silva, pH Nkuna, Ameen Harron, Jax Panik, Johnny de Ridder, Chad da Don, Francois van Coke, Fokofpolisikar, Ard Matthews, Jimmy Nevis and Cara Frew. Active also represents a select number of Intl. catalogues, which includes: Reservoir, Reverb, Fairwood, RZO, Strictly Confidential, Cosmos, Boosey & Hawks, Chaper 2/Cymba/ CSS & Sueco.
[conference-panels year="2020" type="overview" cat=2 testing=0 site=CMW]