ATLANTA (AP) -- One of the world's leading music publishers struck a deal Tuesday with the estate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and will work to bring the civil rights icon's words to a wider audience by encouraging their use in songs.

EMI Music Publishing will also use its copyright expertise to police the use of King's name, image, likeness, recorded voice, both in recordings and music and in online and digital media.

The publisher will work with Intellectual Properties Management, the Atlanta-based company that administers The King Estate and manages the licensing.

EMI represents songwriters and licensing for everything from CDs to commercials, but this is the first time that EMI has taken on the licensing of a non-music based intellectual property catalog. EMI declined to say how much the deal is worth.

"Assuring that Dr. King's words are accorded the same protection and same right for compensation as other copyrights works is a profound responsibility, and we are proud of the confidence that the Estate has placed in us to fulfill that responsibility," EMI Chairman and Chief Executive Roger Faxon said in a statement.

Dexter King, chairman, president and chief executive of The King Estate, said EMI was best positioned to "increase The King Estate's ability to preserve, perpetuate and protect the great legacy of Martin Luther King Jr."

In a statement, Martin Luther King III said he and his sister didn't have any information about the deal.

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Jennifer Hudson says show is "intimate".

*Jennifer Hudson says she's looking forward to beginning her 25-date concert tour with co-headliner Robin Thicke, which kicks off March 31 in Albany, N.Y.

       "I'm excited to get out and meet the people and sing for the people," Hudson told Billboard.com Monday during a conference call with reporters. "I always love to perform live. The only other tour I've been part of is the (American) Idol tour, so this'll be more intimate and personal."       

       The singer admitted that with just one album on her resume, a co-headlining tour made more sense for an inaugural outing rather than going out on her own.      

       "I'm in a weird place," she said, "like, 'Wow, everybody knows Jennifer, but where do you place her? Who do you put her with? Where do I go?' That was the hardest part of the puzzle to put together. I think we came out with a great solution."      

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