Mike Whelan Joins ole as Senior Director, Creative

ole, the world's fastest growing independent rights management company, announced today that Mike Whelan has joined the company's Nashville office as Senior Director, Creative. Mike joins ole from Sony Music Publishing, where he worked with writers and artists including two time BMI writer of the year Casey Beathard, Tony Martin, Eric Church, Kenny Chesney, and Luke Bryan. He will report to John Ozier, ole's GM of Nashville Creative.

"Mike has such an extensive track record of both cultivating writers and placing songs with artists, and he brings a huge amount of knowledge and contacts to ole," said Ozier. "He understands our unique personal approach and the 'super service' that we strive to give our writers and artists, and I'm very pleased to have him on the ole team."

"ole is such a dynamic company and I'm excited to have the opportunity to work with John and the whole ole Creative team - and of course, all their talented writers," said Whelan. "I look forward to helping the team continue to build the list of ole hits."

Whelan began his career at Merit Music Publishing in 1986, working closely with producer Norro Wilson and writers such as Steve Cropper and Mentor Williams. After four years, he then joined Polygram Music Publishing, where he worked with writers and artists such as Bob McDill, Kostas, Toby Keith, Billy Ray Cyrus and Lee Roy Parnell. In 1994, Whelan went to Acuff Rose Music Publishing, where his writers and artists included Dean Dillon, Skip Ewing, Kenny Chesney and Aaron Tippin, and he also signed Casey Beathard to his first major publishing deal. He moved to Sony Music Publishing when the company acquired Acuff Rose in 2002, and eventually became VP of Creative Services there. Whelan is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University.

About ole:

ole is one of the world's foremost rights management companies with investments of over $450M in music intellectual property (IP). Founded in 2004, with operations in Toronto, Nashville, New York, and Los Angeles, ole is engaged in IP acquisitions, creative development, and worldwide rights management. The ole catalog includes over 45,000 songs and 60,000 hours of TV and film music across all genres. Copyrights under ole's control include songs recorded by artists such as the Backstreet Boys, Beyoncé, Blake Shelton, Britney Spears, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Madonna, Michael Jackson, One Direction, Rihanna, Rush, Taylor Swift, and Timbaland. ole controls substantial A/V music and secondary rights including catalogs from Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Miramax, Nelvana, and Nu Image/Millennium. Jingle Punks, the Production Music division of ole, provides quality content and service to creators in all media with over 230,000 tracks in its library.

ole is committed to the creative development of its 100+ staff songwriters, legacy writers, and composers and adding value to our catalogs and client catalogs. Current ole writers include Rush, Timbaland, Tyler Farr, Josh Dorr, Gord Bamford, Brett Jones, Dave Turnbull, Jeremy Stover, Marty Dodson, and Ian Thornley. ole has ongoing Ventures with Last Gang Publishing, Roots Three Music, Jackoby Publishing, and most recently, ole-Bluestone Publishing, ole's venture with global hitmaker Timbaland. ole's legacy catalogs and writers include Max Webster, Coney Hatch, and Ian Thomas.

ole is proud to be associated with its bank partners SunTrust, JP Morgan, CIT Finance, Fifth Third Bank, Avenue Bank, City National Bank, and OneWest Bank.

ole is committed to being the world's best and most innovative Rights Management Company and the preferred destination for IP Investors and Creators in all Media.

For more information, visit www.majorlyindie.com.

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