Nine years after launching several record-company ventures, Toronto-based MapleMusic is stepping into the music-publishing game. “It’s been a long time coming,” says Allan Reid, general manager of MapleMusic Recordings and current overseer of MapleMusic Publishing.

It’s the sixth and latest division under the Toronto-based Maplecore brand, which already includes the IT-driven Maplecore Solutions; MapleMusic Recordings; the online label and merchandiser maplemusic.com; country label co-venture Open Road Recordings; and distribution arm Fontana North. It’s a natural fit, according to Reid. “MapleMusic Publishing just seemed to be a natural evolution for the company. This is an obvious area that we need to facilitate.”

The company, which is partially financed by Universal Music Canada and Standard Broadcasting, was looking for additional entertainment-driven revenue streams. “We have been looking at the business as an overall entity, and asking, ‘What other services can we provide to our active client roster?’” Reid says. “Since we’re so actively involved in film and TV, publishing seemed to be one area where we could say, ‘Here’s a role.’ By adding a full-time publishing person, it will be the next major stage for doing administration but also film and TV.”

In the fall, MapleMusic announced three signings: Toronto’s Great Bloomers and its chief songwriter, Lowell Sostomi, who released their MapleMusic Recordings debut album, Speak of Trouble, earlier this spring; Toronto-based hip-hop, electro-pop dance duo Candy Coated Killahz, featuring Tosha Dash and Icon the Anomali; and Vancouver pop rockers The Latency, who are produced by Hedley’s Tommy Mac, who discovered them. MapleMusic Recordings issued The Latency’s eponymous debut in September.

So far, MapleMusic Publishing has been able to place tunes by each band, including the Candy Coated Killahz, in the box-office smash Tyler Perry film I Can Do Bad All By Myselfand the ABC/CTV co-production sci-fi TV series Defying Gravity, Great Bloomers on Degrassi: The Next Generation and The Latency on MTV Canada’s Peak Season, to name a few.

Reid says the company’s emphasis will be on film and TV song licensing. “Film and TV are essential for us in the development of our artists, and we’ve been quite successful in the past,” he says. “The sync fees really help cover some costs, which is great, but more importantly, the exposure can be career-making.”

Reid expects MapleMusic Publishing to have a conservative first year. “We’re trying to be very, very competitive,” he notes. “It’s starting up very, very small. We’re basically taking care of the roster that we’re signing on the label side and that we’re bringing in for publishing as well. At some point we’ll probably look to be more of a standalone publisher, and look at bringing potential catalogues in, and maybe sign some separate writers. But the focus for now is, ‘How do we super-serve the artists on our roster that we now also publish?’”