Tree International Publishing

Tree International Publishing was a major American music publisher, based in Nashville. As the last major music publisher that was owned and operated in Nashville, it was sold to the CBS Records Group in 1989.^[1] The catalog is now part of Sony Music Publishing.

Tree International Publishing

Company type	Private company
Industry	Music industry
Founded	1950 (1950)
Founder	Jack Stapp
Defunct	1989 (1989)
Fate	Acquired by CBS Records Group
Successor	Sony Music Publishing
Headquarters	Nashville , United States
Key people	Buddy Killen
Products	Music publishing

History

Tree International Publishing was founded by Jack Stapp in the 1950s. In 1953, Stapp hired Buddy Killen, then twenty years old, to audition songs and sing demos. In 1956, Killen discovered "Heartbreak Hotel", which he persuaded Elvis Presley to record.^[2]

After Stapp died in 1980, Killen became the president and sole owner of the company.^[2] In 1989, Killen sold the company to CBS Records, owned by Sony for a price estimated to be between $30 million^[1] and $40 million.^[2] At the time, Tree International Publishing had a catalogue of approximately 35,000 songs and had been the leading publisher on the Billboard charts since 1973.^[1]