With an Eye to Digital, Music Publishing Agency Appoints a New Chief

The Harry Fox Agency, one of the main licensing clearinghouses of the music publishing business, has appointed a new chief executive, in a move that may signal a push into new forms of business as traditional revenue sources diminish.

The agency announced late Monday that Michael S. Simon, its senior vice president for business affairs, has been promoted to chief executive, replacing Gary L. Churgin, who is leaving the organization. No reason was given for the succession, and executives declined to comment further.

In the complex round-robin of music publishing, the Harry Fox Agency, or HFA, acts as a middle man between publishers and record companies. It is a subsidiary of the National Music Publishers' Association, and its main function has been to process the licenses that record labels need in order to pay “mechanical” royalties whenever music is sold or downloaded. (Ascap and BMI, two of the industry's other major clearinghouses, represent publishers w hen songs are performed or broadcast.)

That model, however, has been shaken by the Internet. As record sales have plunged over the last decade, mechanical royalties have declined. Groups like HFA, which represents about 46,000 publishers, have also been challenged by more nimble technology companies that say they can handle its licensing and royalty-reporting services more efficiently and transparently.

HFA began its transition to a more digital-focused company under Mr. Churgin, but in the industry Mr. Simon is perceived as being the strongest force behind this transformation. The agency has made deals with Spotify and YouTube that have expanded its traditional role, and developed services that it pitches to new clients as “information management and technology solutions.”

Ben Sisario writes about the music industry. Follow @sisario on Twitter.