Industry veteran Richard Stumpf launches Hawkeye Music Publishing

Perennial entrepreneur and executive Richard Stumpf announced the launch of Hawkeye Music Publishing, a new company that signs active songwriters and acts as a liaison between groups looking to sell music catalogs with their strategic partner Round Hill Music.

Prior to his new label Hawkeye, Stumpf had success as an executive at Imagem Music and Cherry Lane Music. Most recently, he was the founder and CEO of indie publisher Atlas Music Publishing which has guided Van Halen, Brandi Carlile, Counting Crows, Dan the Automator, Sean Garrett, Ashley Gorley and the Al Jackson Jr. catalog. (“Let's Stay Together”) as customers. Eventually, the company caught the attention of HYBE's Ithaca Holdings and sold to the Korean music giant in early 2019. As part of the sale, Stumpf agreed to stay on as CEO until January 2021, which he did. (The rest of the original Atlas team also departed in 2021).

Since then, Stumpf has taken on an advisory role, helping a number of tech companies looking to break into the music industry, including Right Box and MerchCat, and lending his expertise to catalog buyers or managers such as Pythagoras Music Fund, GoldState Music and Round Hill Music.

“What was clear to me working with technology and catalog companies was that there is a huge and growing appetite for copyright – both from a consumer perspective and from an ownership perspective,” says Stumpf. “I wanted to put myself in a position where I could bring the relationship-driven catalog business into a home where I knew the music would be treated with the utmost respect and at the same time have a partner who could help manage it Hawkeye, which would be dedicated to active writers. I found this strategic partner in Round Hill Music. I am joking [Gruss, founder of Round Hill] and his team exemplify what it means to be a forward-thinking partner that puts the music and writers first.”

Hawkeye Music Publsihing has yet to sign its first active songwriter, but has already assembled a team of consultants across the music industry to, as Stumpf puts it, “provide expertise in various areas of an ever-evolving and overlapping music space.” This list includes Ann Mincielli (Grammy Award winning engineer, co-founder of She Is the Music), Gruss (Founder/CEO of Round Hill), Sean Garrett (Producer/Songwriter), Barry Ehrmann (Founder/Enliven Video Producer Entertainment), Brandon Young (head of music affairs, Activision Blizzard), Chris “Coach” Rodriguez (assistant program director/dj for 107.1 The Peak) Julio Guiu (president of Clipper's Music Group) and Amy Berkholtz (Digital Media Strategist).

“This advisory group shares my respect for the songwriter and the creative process. It's a team that fully embraces innovation,” says Stumpf. “I'm humbled and excited about their participation.”

Gruss adds, “Rich is a real music guy with a lot of creative ideas to maximize value for copyright and writers. He is a respected industry vet who I am delighted to be working alongside with Round Hill Music. We have already been able to welcome Warren Haynes as a Round Hill Music client and are grateful to Rich for his introduction and support.”