Kenny MacPherson, the veteran music publisher who co-founded the independent company Big Deal Music, has died at the age of 71. He died in Los Angeles on Friday, October 23, 2026, Billboard reported. No cause of death has been released.
Over nearly four decades MacPherson became one of the best-known figures in music publishing, known for his ear for left-of-centre talent and his loyalty to the songwriters he signed.
From the Glasgow Apollo to publishing
MacPherson was born in Largs, Scotland, and got his start in live music in Glasgow, eventually managing concerts at the city’s Apollo Theatre. There he met the comedian Billy Connolly, whom he went on to tour-manage. In the London offices of Connolly’s publishers, the publisher Bill Martin gave him the advice that set his course: “You know, Kenny, if you want to be in the music business, get into publishing — it’s a gentleman’s game.”
He moved to the United States around the turn of the 1980s, working with the Manhattan Transfer and then with Supertramp’s management company, where he helped launch a publishing arm.
Warner/Chappell and Chrysalis
In 1989 he joined Warner/Chappell to run its New York office, and spent 13 years there signing and developing writers. He then took over Chrysalis Music’s North American division, where his team signed artists and producers including Ethan Johns and Dave Sitek. He led the division until BMG bought Chrysalis in 2010. Across his career he worked with acts including Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, St. Vincent and Ray LaMontagne.
Big Deal Music
In 2012 MacPherson co-founded Big Deal Music with his longtime colleagues Dave Ayers and Jamie Cerreta. “I wanted to build a place that was culturally significant and great for people to work, where manners, courtesy and high touch are important,” he said in 2019. With offices in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville, the company’s roster grew to include Blake Mills, Weyes Blood, Kamasi Washington, Sharon Van Etten, Sylvan Esso and Sleater-Kinney, along with hit writers Teddy Geiger, Julian Bunetta and John Ryan. The Association of Independent Music Publishers named it indie publisher of the year in 2017.
Big Deal was later acquired by Hipgnosis Songs Fund and became Hipgnosis Songs Group, with MacPherson as chief executive. He argued that songwriters deserved seats on industry boards and backed a publisher-funded health care fund for writers. “A world without songs would be a very dull place,” he once said.
Tributes
Supertramp bassist Dougie Thomson, a friend of 50 years, said: “Kenny was one of a kind.” Jamie Cerreta, now president of Peermusic US and Canada, said MacPherson “was beloved by the songwriters he fought so hard for.” He is survived by his wife, the photographer Melanie Nissen, his daughter Nicole Walker, his granddaughter Kate Land and his sister Anne Cowgill.