Andrew Robbins is the head of House of Robbins Music Group and the previous Director, Film/TV Music Licensing at MusicBox, a division of ole, represents the third generation of what has become a music publishing dynasty that began with his grandfather Jack Robbins, known in his time as “Mr. Music,” and continued with his father Marshall and his uncle Buddy.
The name Robbins in the world of music publishing is the stuff of legend. Jack Robbins, Andrew’s grandfather, was the first publisher to strike a deal with a major motion picture studio (MGM) when sound came to the movies and was the publisher for the first major Hollywood musical, ‘Broadway Melody.’ He was associated with big names of the day like Duke Ellington, Paul Whiteman and Bing Crosby and was partly responsible for discovering actress/singer Judy Garland while at MGM. His uncle, Buddy Robbins formed the Robbins Artist Bureau
(later American Artist Bureau), a spin-off from the parent company, Robbins, Feist and Miller and was a top executive at Chappell, Inc. in New York for almost thirty years. His father Marshall, was the publisher for the legendary Johnny Mercer for 28 years as well as for some of the biggest hits of the day including “I Wanna Be Around,” “The Facts of Life” and the scores to musicals like ‘L’il Abner’ and ‘Seven Brides For Seven Brothers,’ among many others.
“My dad used to say I was abandoned by wolves and raised by music publishers,” Robbins laughs. “As a kid, I was exposed to all genres of music. I also heard the music of the famous people that were at our house. I knew those people as Aunt this and Uncle that, mostly. It was never a high profile situation because publishing is pretty much behind the scenes.
“My grandfather groomed my dad and my uncle for music publishing. I was one of four kids and the only real musician among them and the only one that took an interest, but I was never groomed for it. I knew what publishing was just from being around my house. For me, publishing is the best of the creative and the business side of the music industry.”
Following his first stint in the music business in the early ‘90s at Almo-Irving, A&M Records’ publishing division, Robbins worked for a time overseeing his family’s music publishing interests. In the years prior to joining MusicBox in 2007, he worked as Director of Music Publishing at the L.A.-based music production company, Coyote Entertainment, and as Director, Film/TV Music at Megatrax where he was hugely successful in placing music in numerous films, including the Best Picture Academy Award-winning, ‘Crash,’ as well as in feature film trailers and broadcast and TV programs (‘The Sopranos,’ ‘Without A Trace,’ ‘The Shield’) for which he was responsible for more than 16,000 music placements.