Company Town : Time Warner Publishing Deal Will Maintain Firm’s Rap Connection

Even if Time Warner Inc. caves in to mounting political pressure to sever its ties with controversial Interscope Records, the media giant still stands to profit from the sale of rap music--thanks to a recently signed publishing deal that will link the media giant with rap entrepreneur Suge Knight until the turn of the century.

Just before the rap issue exploded last month at Time Warner’s annual shareholders meeting, executives at Warner Chappell, the firm’s music publishing division, signed a long-term pact with Knight, who controls the publishing rights to much of the music released by Death Row Records, home to Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg.

Death Row albums are distributed by Interscope Records, which has come under fire from rap critics William J. Bennett, former U.S. drug czar, and C. DeLores Tucker, head of the National Political Congress of Black Women, who have called on Time Warner to shed its 50% ownership stake in the Westwood-based label. Tucker and Bennett have singled out Time Warner for selling music that they call “violent pornographic smut.”

Music executives believe the controversy over rap will escalate in August when Death Row and Interscope release the debut album of the rap group Tha Dogg Pound, which is expected to enter the nationwide pop charts at No. 1. Knight owns the publishing rights to many of the songs featured on the album.

Warner Chappell paid Knight, who is co-owner of Death Row, a multimillion-dollar advance to secure worldwide rights to songs from Knight’s Suge Publishing company for the next five years.