POP/ROCK - July 31, 1990

Berlin’s Sheet Music Library Bought: The world’s largest print music publisher has purchased the distribution and printing rights to Irving Berlin’s vast sheet music treasury. Keith Mardak, president of Hal Leonard Publishing Corp., said the company, which is based in Winona, Minn., plans to use Berlin’s songs to develop new publications, including a deluxe coffee table-style song book and a children’s song book. Mardak would not disclose the purchase price, but said the company will earn about $500,000 a year in gross sales from the deal. Berlin, who died in September at 101, composed nearly 1,000 songs, including such classics as “White Christmas” and “God Bless America.”