Photo Credit: Alan Wallis, CEO, Dynamite Songs

Dynamite Songs has acquired the music catalog of Terry Kirkman, co-founder, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of The Association.

Dynamite Songs, the specialist music publisher dedicated to acquiring and managing smaller catalogs with culturally significant songs, has acquired the music catalog of Terry Kirkman, co-founder, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of The Association.

The transaction adds 71 compositions to Dynamite’s growing catalog of more than 1,700 works, which now spans six decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s, across genres including pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B, dance, garage, EDM, country, Americana, and screen composition. The newly acquired catalogs join an existing portfolio that includes works by Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Avicii, The Black Eyed Peas, Joan Osborne, and Tinie Tempah.

The 71 compositions purchased from the Terry Kirkman estate include “Cherish,” which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was subsequently ranked by BMI among the most played songs on American radio and television of the twentieth century—alongside “Everything That Touches You,” “Six Man Band,” and “Requiem for the Masses.”

Dynamite has acquired 100% of the U.S. publishing copyrights of key works recorded by The Association in the 1960s; worldwide non-PRO songwriter royalties and the writer’s share of public performance income across all compositions; artist royalties attributable to Kirkman’s performances on The Association’s sound recordings; and neighboring rights income.

“It is clear that Terry’s catalog is heading into the hands of an aficionado who can parse between psychedelic rock and folk rock, between sunshine pop and bubblegum music, and knows exactly where The Association falls in this spectrum,” shared Heidi Kirkman, widow of Terry Kirkman.

“Terry Kirkman wrote songs that have been in the air for sixty years and show no sign of leaving,” said Alan Wallis, CEO, Dynamite Songs. “‘Cherish’ is one of those songs that people across the world think they’ve always known, and that’s no accident. Yet Terry’s talents went far beyond that—a song like ‘Requiem for the Masses’ existed side by side with ‘Cherish,’ also written by Terry and recorded by the same group, within the same creative period. One is among the most tender love songs of the decade; the other is effectively a choral anti-war lament shaped by the shadow of Vietnam. A writer capable of both has a rare gift, and it’s no wonder his songs have stood the test of time.”

“Heidi’s decision to entrust Terry’s legacy to us is not something we take lightly, and we are committed to caring for his music and ensuring that it continues to reach the audiences it deserves,” Wallis added. “Looking after great songwriting with true cultural worth, whatever its age or genre, is what Dynamite was built to do, and being fully funded and able to move rapidly means we never have to leave songs as good as these without a home.”

The Kirkman estate was represented by Music Rights Group and Miles Feinberg in the transaction.