WARNER SPINNING IPO MUSIC GIANT PLANS PUBLIC STOCK OFFERING MOVE MAY SIGNAL END TO LONG SLUMP.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

Warner Music Group, the record label of Linkin Park and owner of publishing rights to songs including ``Happy Birthday To You,'' plans to raise at least $750 million in an initial public stock offering, according to documents filed Friday with securities regulators.

Warner Music's move could signal the end of a slumping era for the industry.

With piracy beginning to subside and CD sales on the rise, record labels may be ready to bounce back from what some deemed the ``concussive years'' of the music business.

``The industry has turned a corner,'' said Brian Mulligan, former chief financial officer of The Seagram Co. when it owned Universal Music Group. ``And it's a good time for Warner Music to go public.''

To start on the right track, New York-based Warner Music has cut jobs and even consolidated sales staff at several of its labels to create a leaner business. The group is led by Edgar Bronfman, 49, who along with investors, including Providence Equity Partners, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, bought Warner Music Group, the filing said.

Bronfman is known for his insatiable music appetite, which occasionally obscures more business-minded thinking.

``He is almost too passionate as a fan of music,'' said Georg Szalai, business editor for The Hollywood Reporter in New York. ``So the jury is still out on whether he could move this company back into growth mode.''

Bronfman has long been a player in the music business. He purchased Polygram in 1998 for $10.4 billion in an attempt to breath new life into Seagram Co. But he eventually sold Seagram to Vivendi Universal, which then saw its stock endure a lengthy slump.

In Bronfman's favor this time around, Warner Music posted a net income of $36 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31. In the same period last year, Warner recorded a net loss of $1.15 billion, according to Friday's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing did not say when underwriters including Goldman, Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers, expect to deliver the shares to purchasers. Warner Music would not comment, which is typical of companies planning such offerings.

Don Gorder, who chairs the music business/management department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, said regardless of the outcome, he is disappointed that Warner Music is mulling a public offering. It's considered one of the ``big four labels'' that is still privately held.

``Warner was the lone wolf for the industry. And maybe wasn't as profit-driven as the rest of the labels,'' Gorder said.

Warner has also taken on about $700 million in new debt, the filing said.

At the same time Warner faces competition from the ``Universal and Sony BMG recorded music duopoly,'' the filing said.

Among other obstacles, in the fall of 2004, the company was served a subpoena by New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer amid an industrywide investigation of the relationship between music companies and radio stations.

``All of this doesn't sound like a red hot IPO (initial public offering) to me,'' Gorder said. ``And I think people will be reluctant to invest in the company.''

Of course, Warner's vast catalog of music could prove invaluable for the company. Filled with songs from legendary bands like Led Zepplin, Warner's catalog provides a potential bounty of royalty checks. The company also has a musical roster of more than 38,000 artists spanning all genres with recent success coming from bands including Simple Plan, Jet, Michelle Branch and Sean Paul.

``To be sanguine, this deal could turn into a bright future for Warner Music, especially with all of the money coming from ring tones, and even video games are becoming a major source of revenue,'' Gorder said.

Evan Pondel, [phone]

evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Phoenix Farrell of Linkin Park

(2 -- color) Kid Rock

(3 -- color) Madonna

Box:

(1) WARNER MUSIC GROUP ARTISTS

(2) WARNER MUSIC GROUP RECORD LABELS

(3) WARNER MUSIC GROUP FACTS