GoldState Expands With $200M in Music Catalog Acquisitions

Charles Goldstuck‘s GoldState Music is quietly bulking up thanks to two back-to-back catalog acquisitions in the last six months.

According to sources, GoldState has laid out some $200 million to acquire portfolios of music publishing and recorded music royalty income streams from two boutique music asset investment firms: CatchPoint Rights Partners in a deal that sources say closed in the last month; and AMR Songs, whose catalog GoldState acquired earlier this year.

The CatchPoint portfolio includes stakes in songs like Kanye West‘s “Flashing Lights,” Sheryl Crow‘s “If It Makes You Happy” and Panic! At The Disco‘s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” along with slices of songs and/or recordings by the likes of Brantley Gilbert, Smash Mouth, Avril Lavigne and others.

Meanwhile, the AMR catalog includes John Sebastian’s writer’s share of all of his The Lovin’ Spoonful songs, including “Summer In the City,” “Daydream” and “Do You Believe In Magic,” as well as all rights from Sebastian’s solo catalog, which includes “Welcome Back.” AMR has also made investments in SOJA’s catalog, from the band’s inception through 2020 — covering music publishing and artist royalties and various master recordings — as well as stakes in songs by the likes of Macy Gray and Ivan Neville.

While the above list includes artist names, the two firms have also invested in co-writer shares of songs or producer points on artist royalties — and their websites don’t always specify, when citing song and recording investments, which assets have been acquired.

All told, the two firm’s catalogs each had about $7 million in annual income, or a combined $14 million, in a combination of music assets that split about 50/50 active and passive income, sources say. (Passive income would be the writer’s share of a song owned and controlled by a publisher or an artist’s royalty income stream from a master recording owned by a label. Active income would be ownership of the song publishing and/or the master recordings.)

Goldstuck has a long history in the music industry, having held senior executive positions at such labels as Arista Records, Capitol Records, J Records and RCA before becoming president/COO of the Bertelsmann Music Group. More recently, he was co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment, which was sold to Concord. Moreover, Goldstuck is the founder of The Sanctuary At Albany, which is described as a state-of-the-art recording studio in the Bahamas, and is also currently the executive chairman of TouchTunes Interactive Networks, the digital jukebox company with over 80,000 locations, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The GoldState Music website says Goldstuck founded the GoldState investment firm in 2022 and lists Flexpoint Ford, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Regions as its financial backers. The website also lists TouchTunes, The Sanctuary at Albany and Create Music as part of the GoldState Music growth portfolio. In June, GoldState Music participated in Flexpoint Ford’s $165 million funding round to Create Music Group, although the amount it invested was undisclosed.

Prior to making its latest catalog acquisitions, Goldstuck began by acquiring music intellectual property rights on its own, including by buying — based on the GoldState website — the rights of music by recording artists such as EDM DJ/artist Alan Walker, Christian group Anberlin, pop singer Daya, punk band Dead Kennedys and legendary soul singer Sam Moore, among others. The company’s website doesn’t specify which rights of those artists it has acquired.

In moving on to bigger acquisitions like its recent CatchPoint portfolio and AMR Songs deals, Goldstate so far appears to be eschewing iconic songs and catalogs that trade for frothy prices and multiples and instead has chosen to buy the catalogs of two firms, which separately on their own pursued niche genres and name artists — but not superstars — whose music rights assets produce steady income streams that trade at more reasonable price points.

CatchPoint was founded in 2020 by former BMI executive Rich Conlon, Wall Street executive Patrick Riordon and PJ Miklus, a business executive with a background in finance and the music industry. Sources suggest that CatchPoint sold its portfolio of songs to GoldState as a proof-of-concept to potential investors. Sources add that the firm didn’t sell all of the music assets in its catalog and has funding for further music asset acquisitions.

Meanwhile, AMR was founded by Tamara Conniff, a former music publishing executive at such firms as Roc Nation and Artist Publishing Group, and Wall Street private equity executive Steve Reinstadtler. According to the GoldState website, Conniff and some of her team have joined the GoldState staff.

Executives at GoldState, Catchpoint and AMR either didn’t return phone calls seeking comment or declined to comment on the transactions.

Related Images: