acquisitions
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Duetti, a new music financing startup led by former Tidal COO Lior Tibon and former Apple Music business development executive Christopher Nolte, has closed a $32 million funding round to launch its new service, the company announced Wednesday (May 3). The round includes money from Viola Ventures/Viola Credit, Roc Nation, Untitled and Presight Capital.
The company is aiming to get in on the catalog sales market by providing funding to rising or independent artists in exchange for full catalogs, individual tracks or parts of tracks — then optimizing and growing their returns through marketing and/or social platform promotion. Duetti likens the deals it’s making as akin to the big catalog sales that major artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and others have executed in recent years, but for smaller artists — or at least those who have had songs on streaming platforms for two years and racked up at least 500,000 streams within the past 12 months.
Lior Tibon
“In recent years, the trend of legacy A-list musicians selling their entire catalogs has left independent artists out of the equation,” said Tibon, who serves as Duetti’s CEO, in a statement. “Now, artists at all stages of their careers can easily capture the potential of their tracks and catalogs to help them reach the next step of their journey. We are arming artists with the information they need to choose when, and how, to leverage their assets from a position of strength.”
Duetti has been in stealth mode, and during that period it says it has partnered with over 60 artists — including Sylvan LaCue, CVBZ and Croosh — across 100 tracks, with acquisitions totaling as much as $400,000; Duetti’s deals take roughly 30 days to complete on average, according to the company. It now sees an opportunity to open up this funding model to more than 70,000 additional independent artists. The company plans to use the seed funding to expand its staff, onboard more artists and boost the value of the tracks already in its catalog. It’s tapping into a market that includes companies like Sound Royalties, which recently sold to GoDigital, that aim to help artists finance their lives and careers by selling royalty streams and other assets and seeing higher returns in the long run.
“Duetti’s cutting edge technology enables efficient analysis of an artist’s potential for successfully monetizing a catalog or track — we are incredibly excited by the potential of their business model and the new, independent investment class it unlocks,” said Avi Zeevi, fintech investor and co-founder of Viola Ventures, in a statement accompanying the announcement. “Independent artist revenue growth is outpacing the entire industry and their highly scalable model returns revenue uncorrelated to broader market and economic conditions. A win-win for investors and musicians.”
Sony Music Corp. is in the process of helping Bad Bunny manager Noah Assad — the CEO of Latin music label and management company Rimas Entertainment — buy out his partner, Rafael Ricardo Jiménez Dan, a former Venezuelan government official who has a 60% majority stake in the company, sources familiar with the matter tell Billboard.
Rimas — which manages, records and publishes Bad Bunny — also has a label and management roster that includes Arcángel, Eladio Carrión, Jowell & Randy and Tommy Torres. The company was founded in 2014 in Puerto Rico and now has about 100 employees.
According to sources, Sony will participate in a buyout of Jiménez, who has not been involved in running Rimas’ day-to-day operations since 2018. That will result in a reshuffling of the company’s ownership and will likely leave Bad Bunny with an equity stake in the firm— and either Assad, or the combination of Assad and Bad Bunny, with majority ownership.
However the deal is ultimately financed, Sony itself is expected to wind up with a significant minority share in Rimas, which it will assign to The Orchard, its rapidly growing music distribution and artists/label services powerhouse that currently distributes Rimas.
Billboard estimates that Rimas Entertainment — the record label and the management company — has a valuation above $300 million without including the company’s publishing assets, which sources say are not currently being considered as a part of this transaction.
Assad and Jimenez, respectively, also have the same 40–60% ownership stakes in the music publishing assets, Jiménez tells Billboard. The publishing company, which includes some Bad Bunny songs and was launched by Assad, Jiménez and lawyer Carlos Souffront, is also up for sale. The sellers are seeking a $70 million to $75 million valuation for the overall publishing company, those sources add. As on the recorded music side, Assad plans to retain his stake in the song catalog, which means that the Jiménez stake could potentially fetch $42 million to $45 million.
Assessing a valuation for the publishing deal is tricky, sources say, because many of Bad Bunny’s songs are still widely popular, which makes it harder to calculate how much their plays will decay until they level off and become a predictable income stream, likely in a decade or two from now. As it is, the Rimas publishing portfolio —which is currently being administered by Universal Music Publishing Group — has about $5 million to $7.5 million in net publisher share (gross profit after paying songwriter royalties), a level it is expected to maintain over the next few years.
The music publishing portion of Jiménez’s Rimas holdings have been shopped to private equity players, sources say, and there is currently no known buyer. That’s in contrast to the hoped-for sale of the label/management holdings, which appears to have only been offered to Sony. However, sources wonder if Assad has matching rights on the publishing assets, which means that he could also arrange a deal to buy the Jimenez publishing stake if he matches the highest offer.
Jiménez is being represented for the expected publishing sale by Brian Richards, co-founder and managing partner of the investment advisory firm Artisan. On the record label/management side of Rimas, sources say Jiménez is being advised by Mitchell, Silberberg & Krupp partner Joel Schoenfeld, the former general counsel of eMusic and BMG’s senior vp of business affairs before that; and by Colin Finkelstein, the former CFO for EMI Music, who sometimes consults with investors on music assets and also owns and runs a few artist management firms.
Both deals are said to be very complex, and sources say they have been in the works for months — with some wondering whether the deals have been stalled due to friction between the two partners, Jiménez and Assad.
Another looming issue may be how much financial capacity Sony Music Group has to close deals right now. As Sony negotiates the stake in Rimas, it is reportedly also in talks to acquire part — or possibly all — of the Michael Jackson estate in a deal that could carry a valuation of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
The question is whether Sony’s corporate leadership in Japan has signed off on the funding and the completion of both deals and if the costs involved in the deals might force Sony to choose to between them.
If both deals are completed, sources suggest that they would likely still need to be approved by regulators. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, as of Feb. 27, 2023, any merger and/or acquisition that has a transaction value of more than $111 million — or if the contemplated combined entity will have total assets of more than $445 million — must file and seek regulatory approval.
Assad, Jiménez, Sony, Finkelstein, Schoenfeld and Richards either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Alexei Barrionuevo
LL Cool J‘s Rock the Bells hip-hop platform announced a $15 million Series B raise led by Raine Ventures, Irving Azoff of Iconic Artists Group and Paramount Global, with participation from Amex Ventures, Wildcat Capital Management and Capstar Ventures. Additional investment came from ASK Capital, North Island, AME Cloud Ventures and XO Capital. The funds will be used to scale the business, including by creating more long-form content projects, launching new retail projects, expanding to the European Union, growing the annual Rock the Bells Festival and launching new experiential events. Under the deal, Rock the Bells and Paramount Global have signed a multi-year first-look deal covering feature films and scripted and unscripted content as well as the opportunity to live-stream the 2023 Rock the Bells Festival. Additionally, they will partner on developing co-branded merchandise opportunities. Paramount Global will also provide marketing support for Rock The Bells content, experiences and activations.
ICM Crescendo Music Royalty Fund acquired the master royalty income of a catalog of songs owned by High Society Management, including several by Latin star Anuel AA such as “Sola (Remix)”, “Soldado Y Profeta (Remix)” and “Nacimos Pa Morir” featuring Jory Boy.
Snapchat struck new music licensing deals with UnitedMasters, BUMA/STEMRA, SUISA Digital Licensing AG — which includes the repertoire of SUISA (Switzerland), AKKA/LAA (Latvia), Albautor (Albania), Armauthor (Armenia), Autodia (Greece), COMP (Pakistan), EAÜ (Estonia), GCA (Georgia), LATGA (Lithuania), SOZA (Slovakia), Abramus Digital (Brazil), Soundreef (Italy) — and multiple direct-licensing publishers for its Snapchat Sounds library.
Independent Latin music label The Wave Music Group — founded in 2021 by Angelo Torres and Caleb Calloway — signed a long-term distribution agreement with Capitol Music Group (CMG). The first music to be released under the deal comes from Puerto Rican rapper and songwriter Young Miko, who dropped the first single under the agreement, “Lisa,” in March. CMG will provide The Wave Music Group with a number of services in support of its releases, supplementing the label’s in-house functions.
Reactional Music — which has developed a rules-based music engine that allows any music to be brought into a video game and interact in real time with the game’s visuals, sound and more — closed a pre-Series A funding round led by mobile music games publisher Amanotes and early-stage VC fund Butterfly Ventures. The round was also supported by several angel investors, including former Mediatonic chairman, Red Octane CEO and Take 2 Interactive CEO Kelly Sumner. The funds will be used to deliver the Reactional beta platform and SDK for developers, continue its music licensing operations and scale the Reactional team. Reactional is currently at work on several pilot projects, while the Reactional engine is now being used in a commercially-available game for the Playstation 5 and Playstation VR2; it has also struck multiple music rights agreements, including with Hipgnosis Song Management. The platform is expected to go live this year.
PRS for Music announced a partnership with music rights and metadata management software platform Orfium to expand PRS’s licensing coverage to music users in Africa. Under the deal, Orfium will license the PRS repertoire and provide the underlying technology infrastructure to serve African markets. Coverage provided by Orfium will extend to public performances, radio, cable TV and local and select multi-national online services. The deal will also expand the global reach of PRS’s Major Live Concert Service, a leading royalty collection service for large concerts, making it available for events held throughout Africa. The Orfium partnership will function alongside PRS’s existing agreement with South Africa collecting society SAMRO for its home territories.
SoundExchange announced a new data partnership with music metadata provider Music Story to improve SoundExchange’s creator metadata. The deal is designed to minimize the need for manual claiming and help ensure accuracy in monthly royalty payments. Music Story partner Muso.AI, a verified music credit platform, captures credits, correctly links music creators to their work and spots inconsistencies that impact their rights.
Live events company LiveCo struck a partnership with Park City, Utah-based boutique producing and presenting firm MagicSpace Entertainment to bring the company under the LiveCo umbrella. MagicSpace has launched tours including Simone Biles in the Gold Over America Tour, Rain – A Tribute to the Beatles, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, A Magical Cirque Christmas and Alton Brown Live. LiveCo, which launched at the top of 2023, also boasts partnerships with Icon Concerts, Premier Productions, BASE Entertainment, Rush Concerts, Peachtree Entertainment and Transparent Productions; it also represents talent and productions including Jimmy O. Yang, Criss Angel, Cocomelon Live, Cody Johnson, Jo Koy, Dude Perfect, Zach Bryan, MercyMe, Elevation Worship and Gabriel Iglesias.
Enote, an app that provides a library of interactive sheet music to classical musicians, closed a 10 million euro ($10.97 million) pre-Series A funding round led by Dieter von Holzbrink Ventures (DvH Ventures), the EU’s European Innovation Council (EIC Fund) and the Rudolf Fuchs Family Office. The funds will go toward initiatives that introduce innovations to the app, empower educators and provide more musicians with the opportunity to access the Enote library. There remains an opportunity for angel investors, venture capital funds and family offices to participate in a second closing of the round, which the EIC fund has committed to matching euro for euro.
Web3 company OneOf acquired enterprise rewards and loyalty software company TAP Network, which has developed customized rewards and loyalty solutions for clients including Warner Music Group, Brave and Uber. The acquisition allows for the integration of TAP Network’s loyalty software IP with OneOf’s mass-consumer Web3 technology framework. The resulting Web3-powered tech stack, dubbed OnePlatform, will provide white-labeled turnkey loyalty, commerce and data solutions for enterprise clients in entertainment, media, finance, retail, travel, consumer packaged goods, telecom and more.
SoundCloud and Feature.fm formed a strategic partnership to provide exclusive resources and benefits related to Feature.fm’s marketing tools — including smartlinks and pre-saves — for SoundCloud artists. The benefits, which will become available next month, will include perks and discounts from Feature.fm and provide SoundCloud’s “Next Pro” tier of artists with a free plan and free ad credits, while providing artists in its “Next” tier with discounted pricing. As part of the deal, Feature.fm will introduce a new entry-level pricing plan that will be made available to all SoundCloud artists for the first 90 days.
Turntable LIVE acquired fellow music-centered social platform JQBX. The JQBX brand, domain and community will continue with special features at www.JQBX.fm. The acquisition follows the announcement of Turntable LIVE’s $7 million seed round.
Revelator, which provides digital IP infrastructure to music companies including royalty accounting, distribution and analysis, announced an expansion to Japan under a new partnership with Japanese music tech agency PRTL. Under the deal, Revelator will leverage PRTL head Taishi Fukuyama‘s “expertise to bring its innovative Web2 and Web3 solutions to a market that is experiencing rapid streaming growth and is wildly enthusiastic about NFTs,” according to a press release.
EVEN, a blockchain-enabled platform that allows artists to sell their music directly to fans in exchange for exclusive perks before uploading the music to streaming platforms, announced a $2.2 million funding round led by CSA Partners with participation from gener8tor, VC414, gAngels, Daniel Rotman, Adie Akuffo-Afful, Donte Murry and Ogo.
Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSGE) has reached an agreement to sell its stake in the Tao Group chain of restaurants and nightclubs to global luxury lifestyle company Mohari Hospitality, according to a filing Monday (April 17).
MSGE will sell its 66.9% majority interest in Tao Group Hospitality for about $300 million, according to the filing. The deal, which values Tao Group at $550 million, is expected to close in May.
News of the planned sale comes just days before MSGE is expected to finalize the spin-off of its live entertainment business, a move that will separate the pure-play live music business from the company’s state-of-the-art Sphere venue in Las Vegas, sports television network and hospitality businesses.
The spin-off would have moved Tao Group Hospitality into the parent company, renamed Sphere Entertainment Co., along with the Sphere, the new Las Vegas venue currently under construction, and MSG Networks. The company said Monday that upon the deal’s close, it will “enter into multi-year agreements with Tao Group Hospitality for ongoing consulting, marketing, and support services at Madison Square Garden and Sphere in Las Vegas.”
MSGE bought a majority stake in Tao Group in 2017 and has since expanded it to include Hakkasan, Beauty & Essex and other restaurants for a total of more than 80 locations spread across 24 cities on four continents.
Founded in 2017, Mohari Hospitality is an investment company that owns stakes in the Waldorf Astoria in Miami, the 1 Hotel in Toronto, a luxury sustainability-focused resort in Costa Rica called the Peninsula Papagayo and the Ritz Carlton’s cruise line of custom yachts.
Equity holders in Tao Group Hospitality were advised by Goldman Sachs & Co. and Hughes Hubbard & Reed. Advising Mohari Hospitality were Moelis & Company and Kirkland & Ellis.
Financing and investment company Cutting Edge Media Music acquired the full music catalog of United Kingdom-based media company First Score Music. The acquisition gives Cutting Edge complete master and publishing rights to over 75 film scores, including original music rights to films from Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish‘s Imaginarium Productions. This includes Imaginarium’s upcoming animated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm as well as its Taika Waititi-directed film Next Goal Wins with a score by Michael Giacchino. The catalog also includes scores by composers such as Carter Burwell, Christophe Beck, Hildur Guðnadóttir, David Newman and Rachel Portman for films including Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Midway and Greenland.
Atlantic Records formed a joint venture with TAG Music, a new record label founded by artist-turned-executive Gabe Saporta (Cobra Starship, Midtown). The first releases under the deal include the singles “Nosebleed” from Los Angeles-based singer Sophie Powers (released March 31) and “Red Is My Favorite Color” from emo alt-rock artist Jules Is Dead in April.
China-based streaming service NetEase Cloud Music renewed its deal with independent Asian “Mandopop” label Rock Records to distribute both its back catalog and upcoming releases in China. Under the agreement, NetEase and Rock Records will continue collaborating to promote Rock Records artists and content; the new deal also “extends the strategic cooperation towards more in-depth initiatives on copyright cooperation between the two parties,” according to a press release, including the rights to sublicense Rock Records music for various uses including third-party applications, website background music and smart devices. Founded in 1980, Rock Records is home to popular artists including Tayu Lo, Jonathan Lee and Wakin Chau.
Symphonic announced a partnership with Boston-based music technology company Formless that will see Symphonic integrate Formless’ SHARE Protocol for blockchain technology. The protocol will roll out to a select group of Symphonic clients who express an interest in Web3. Artists using the technology will be able to control access terms to their music, including streaming price, and receive payments instantly while splitting royalties with collaborators and fans.
PayPal and Live Nation unveiled a multi-year partnership naming PayPal as the “preferred payments partner” of Ticketmaster, according to a press release. Under the deal, fans will be able to pay with PayPal, PayPal Pay Later products and Venmo across the Ticketmaster platform. PayPal Braintree will also become Ticketmaster’s primary global payment processor, speeding up the checkout process while giving fans access to event add-ons like merchandise and parking for purchase. The partnership also entails an “expanded global marketing program to drive broad engagement and fan loyalty through experiences and offers,” including by rewarding a limited number of fans who use PayPal and Venmo to pay for festivals like Bonnaroo, BottleRock and Lollapalooza with ticket discounts and “Cashless credits” to those events.
Songtradr has completed its acquisition of U.K. digital music company 7digital, the company announced on Thursday (March 30).
When the deal was first announced on Feb. 8 prior to being finalized, 7digital said it planned to accept a bid worth 19.4 million pounds ($23.4 million), with its shareholders set to receive 0.695 pence ($0.84) per share in cash, a 114% premium over the prior day’s closing price.
Songtradr is a music licensing marketplace and distribution platform that matches rights holders with brands via a searchable database. 7digital offers a range of digital music services for businesses, including licensing, tracking, reporting and paying rights holders. It has integrated with over 300,000 labels and publishers and boasts a catalog of over 80 million tracks.
In a release, Songtradr states that the acquisition “solidifies” it “as a key leader in the business-to-business music industry, establishing the company as the only one-stop music solution for digital platforms and brands worldwide.” Among other benefits, Songtradr says the acquisition will expand its ability “to power user experiences” on digital platforms including social media, lifestyle apps and video games while “extending its reach into new markets” — all thanks to 7digital’s “highly scalable” music delivery platform and “comprehensive” music catalog. 7digital’s list of clients includes global brands like Pinterest, Barry’s and Triller.
In a statement, Songtradr CEO Paul Wiltshire said the 7digital acquisition will help it achieve its goal “to remove the friction and help deliver scalable solutions for the music industry while simplifying music use for enterprise brands and digital platforms.”
Added 7digital CEO Paul Langworthy, “Together, we will have an unparalleled combination of catalog, technology, and capabilities, allowing us to better serve our current clients and offer new enterprise clients an exceptional range of data, services, and opportunities.”
Since the company’s launch in 2014, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Songtradr has raised over $100 million to build a company focused on solving many of the inefficiencies in music licensing. It acquired AI metadata and music search company Musicube in 2022, music licensing agency Massive Music in 2021 and licensing agency Big Synch Music in 2019. In 2021, Songtradr established a global creative division headed up by industry veteran Amanda Schupf. The company currently has teams in 16 countries.
As announced last month, Langworthy and the rest of 7digital’s senior leadership team will join Songtradr, though interim chairman Mark Foster, CFO Michael Juskiewicz and all nonexecutive directors will step down. Songtradr will also repay 7digital’s £2 million ($2.14 million) revolving credit facility as well as two £500,000 ($536,000) loans. The company will continue operating 7digital’s London office for now.
The acquisition by Songtradr closes out an unstable period for 7digital, which in July 2019 faced the possibility of entering administration — or the U.K. equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy — unless it managed to raise £4.5 million ($5.5 million) in additional funds by the end of that month.
Marshall Amplification, known for furnishing amps to a who’s who of rock stars, is being acquired by the Swedish tech company Zound Industries, Zound announced on Thursday (March 30). Zound had previously licensed the Marshall name for more than a decade and helped spread it around the world through popular headphones and speakers.
The new combined company will be dubbed the Marshall Group. Zound’s press release trumpeted that “on day one, Marshall Group revenues will be over $360 million with double-digit profitability.”
“Combining our strengths and unique positioning… will fuel our ambition to create premium, innovative, products and experiences for musicians and music lovers around the world,” Zound CEO Jeremy de Maillard said in a statement. “Zound has proven itself as a global, fast growing, and progressive company. With the Marshall Group, we are set to accelerate our profitable growth in a $100 billion market.”
“I am proud that this deal has finally been completed,” added Konrad Bergström, founder and board member of Zound Industries until 2018. “The success that we have achieved with the Marshall brand over recent years is soon going to be seen as having been the warm-up to a new British-Swedish headline act that is going to shake the tech and music industries to their foundations.”
Jim Marshall and his son Terry created the first Marshall amp in 1962, and the gear was subsequently popularized by rockers like Jimi Hendrix and The Who. “We have always looked for ways to deliver the pioneering Marshall sound to music lovers of all backgrounds and music tastes across the world,” Terry Marshall said in a statement. “I’m confident that the Marshall Group will elevate this mission and spur the love for the Marshall brand.”
The Marshall Family will be the largest shareholder of the Marshall Group, holding on to 24%.
Zound first started licensing the Marshall name back in 2010. “We brought the Marshall brand to over 90 countries through the headphones and the speakers,” de Maillard told The Verge. “So it became a much more known brand by the masses than it was before. Before it was the in-the-know, the musicians, people who were really into music who knew about the brand. But through this partnership, we’ve managed to touch a lot more people.”
“We’re very complementary to each other and this deal will enable us to bring together the full range of products and the entire consumer experience under one roof,” de Maillard added in a separate interview with Forbes. “It will allow us to be quicker with innovation and to have a deeper and more holistic connection with musicians and music lovers.”
Multimedia Music secured a $100 million investment “uplift” from its group of investors and lenders, including Metropolitan Partners Group, Bardin Hill, Pinnacle Bank and Regions Bank, according to a press release. That grows the company’s total funds raised to $200 million. Multimedia Music also announced a deal to acquire the catalog and income streams of Emmy-winning composer Sean Callery (Homeland, 24, Bones). Launched in 2022 and led by music industry veterans Phil Hope and James Gibb, Multimedia Music with the goal of acquiring catalogs of film and TV music rights from production companies, composers and other rights holders. The company says it has so far spent over $120 million on acquisitions, including the catalog of film composer James Newton Howard and the film music library of STX Entertainment, which it purchased in February.
Reactional Music, a startup specializing in music personalization for video games, licensed the catalog of Merck Mercuriadis‘ Hipgnosis Song Management. Reactional owns patented technology that allows any music to be brought into a video game, where it reacts live to various elements in the game, including visuals and sounds — thereby creating a “personalized” experience for gamers. Reactional tracks all music use across the platform, while its Reactional Engine does not alter, mix or edit the music master. It previously partnered with Tuned Global, Musiio and Blokur for music delivery, consistent tagging and rights management of all music and sounds. “The intersection of games and music is incredibly exciting,” said Reactional Music president David Knox in a statement on the Hipgnosis deal. “Commercially it presents opportunities for both industries with in-game purchases; creatively it is compelling for artists, composers, and games developers to work more closely. And it’s not just new game releases. Reactional’s platform enables curation and personalisation of music in existing games franchises as part of a seasonal refresh.”
Chrysalis Records signed a global agreement with Secretly Distribution that covers all physical and digital distribution for the label’s frontline releases moving forward, including new projects from Laura Marling, Emeli Sandé, Ben Harper, William The Conqueror, The Wandering Hearts and more. The first release under the deal is The Endless Coloured Ways – The Songs of Nick Drake.
Digital electronic music store Beatport struck a partnership with blockchain network Polkadot to launch Beatport.io, a digital collectible marketplace that will bring “electronic music culture to Web3,” according to a press release. Developed and designed in collaboration with Define Creative, Beatport.io will launch on Aventus, a Web3 solutions provider in the Polkadot ecosystem. The new platform will allow record labels and artists to create and sell digital assets and engage with fans. In addition to the launch, Beatport and Polkadot will collaborate on 10 events over the next 18 months, each held to celebrate the launch of a new NFT collection accessible via Polkadot-integrated wallets. The events will be produced by Beatport and “take place alongside major music and Web3 events,” according to the release.
The Orchard acquired Above Board, a dance and electronic music distribution and artist/label services company. Under the deal, Above Board’s roster will have access to The Orchard’s full suite of distribution and artist and label services. Above Board founder/managing director Dan Hill will report to The Orchard managing director Ian Dutt as he continues signing and developing global dance/electronic talent for the label. The Above Board team is now based in The Orchard’s U.K. headquarters. The Orchard’s roster of dance labels also includes Liquid State/Dimitri Vegas, Amtrac, TMRW Music Group and Rose Avenue.
Recently-launched live events company LiveCo acquired faith-based concert promoter Transparent Productions, which works with Christian and gospel music artists including Phil Wickham, CeCe Winans, Casting Crowns and For King & Country.
The Warner Music Group/ Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund bestowed a $150,000 grant to Janelle Monáe‘s nonprofit, Fem the Future, which has a mission to create opportunities for under-resourced girls and non-binary youth of color in music, the arts and education. The grant will serve as a pilot for a longer-term collaboration between the two organizations. “This grant will enable Fem the Future to scale up its programming; elevate the power and brilliance of Black girls and non-binary youth; and ensure greater access to life-changing opportunities,” said Warner Music Group/ Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund executive director Lorelei Williams in a statement.
Universal Music Central Europe partnered with Web3 music company Centaurify. Under the deal, Universal Music Central Europe will release a series of exclusive, limited-edition collectibles celebrating its artists’ achievements. As streaming numbers grow for artists included in the collection, the collectibles will “evolve,” according to a press release. The collectibles will also grant pre-sale access to future collectibles in the series as well as access to exclusive releases from artists. The first wave of collectibles will be available this year in Norway and Sweden, with more countries to be announced soon.
The U.K. office of digital music company Believe signed a long-term label solutions partnership with drum and bass label Hospital Records for Believe’s new b:electronic imprint. Believe will distribute Hospital’s entire catalog of more than 5,300 tracks to its global network of DSPs while offering audience development services to support growing Hospital’s international reach, including video channel management and strategic support from dedicated genre specialists on Believe’s label management and DSP editorial and marketing partnerships teams. Upcoming releases to be distributed under the deal include albums from P Money x Whiney, Metrik, Hugh Hardie and Flava D. Believe also boasts partnerships with other electronic labels including Metalheadz, Shogun Audio, Cr2 Records, Greco-Roman, Knee Deep in Sound and Southern Fried Records.
Warner Music Czech Republic renewed its partnership with and invested in local hip-hop label Mike Roft to help expand its roster’s global reach. Under the deal, Warner Music will become the sole distributor for Mike Roft’s roster, including Czech superstar Calin — also a shareholder in the company alongside fellow Czech artist D-Kop and video director/graphic designer Radim Zboril. All three will continue to lead Mike Roft as an independent label. Mike Roft is also home to artists including Conspira, KOJO, Indigo and STEIN27.
Voyage, a talent consultancy founded by music executive Spencer Moya, has been acquired by digital-focused talent management firm Select Management Group. In partnership with Select, Voyage will now expand its offerings to encompass artist management services across music, TV/film, creative and fashion. The Los Angeles-based Moya will continue running Voyage as a standalone enterprise within Select.
ASM Global and Frost Bank struck a multiyear deal that names Frost as a founding partner for San Antonio Boeing Center at Tech Port. As part of the agreement, Frost is now the official commercial banking partner for the 130,000-square-foot convention center, which has renamed the premium lux level at the arena as Frost Club.
Independent sales, marketing and distribution company Republic of Music signed a global delivery services deal with distribution management platform Labelcamp. Republic of Music’s label partners — including City Slang, Full Time Hobby and Ghostly — can now upload new releases, manage their catalogs and access daily trend analytics from Labelcamp’s white-label dashboard, while the company’s operations and marketing teams are using Labelcamp to manage release submission from partners and ensure their delivery to DSPs. Labelcamp’s other partners include [PIAS], Because Music, Concord Music Group and Ditto Music.
Universal Music Group has acquired the British indie classical label Hyperion Records, the company announced Wednesday (March 15).
The 43-year-old label — which is home to artists like Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt and Stephen Osborne and represents a catalog of 2,5000 recordings, some of which date back to the 12th century — will operate as a standalone label within Universal Music U.K. alongside Decca Classics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Hyperion will now join Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon in UMG’s classical portfolio, while Simon Perry — who has overseen the label for more than 20 years, after taking over from his father, Hyperion founder Ted Perry — will remain as managing director.
“I’m thrilled to bring Hyperion to Universal Music Group, a company that shares Hyperion’s commitment to bringing the most distinctive and brilliant musicians to as wide a public as possible,” Perry said in a statement. “By being part of UMG, while keeping our artists and staff together, we can continue to build on my father’s legacy and that of everyone who’s been part of the Hyperion family over the past 43 years. My debt to all of them is huge and I look forward to leading this incredible label into an exciting new chapter.”
Hyperion is next set to release Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia Antartica and Symphony No.9 with BBC Symphony Orchestra, a series it says is dedicated to the Masses and Magnificats of Cristóbal de Morales, as well as recordings from the London Haydn Quartet and Stephen Layton and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, among others. In a statement, UMG president/CEO of global classics and jazz Dickon Stainer called Hyperion “a jewel of a label,” adding that “we are committed to continuing the magnificent work done by the Perry family and to preserving and building on the special place Hyperion occupies in the hearts of artists and music fans alike.”
The acquisition comes amid a veritable wave of news spilling from the world of classical music lately. In November, Deutsche Grammophon launched a new standalone streaming service, Stage+, catering to its own catalog and that of Decca Classics. And earlier this month, Apple Music announced its own standalone streaming app, Apple Music Classical, which will roll out later this month and stems from its August 2021 acquisition of Primephonic.
“We are enormously proud that Hyperion has joined Universal’s family of classical labels to sit alongside Decca Classics in London,” Decca Label Group co-presidents Tom Lewis and Laura Monks said in a statement. “Simon and his father have created a very important recorded classical catalogue that serves a dedicated global audience. And the label continues to work with artists who are the best of the best. We are determined to celebrate the label’s legacy and continue its extraordinary story.”
A new London-based buyer has entered the already crowded catalog acquisition market. Called Bella Figura Music, the company was founded by former BMG U.K. president, Alexi Cory-Smith, who will act as CEO, and former BMG global investments division leader, Neelesh Prabhu, who will act as head of investments.
According to the company’s announcement, Bella Figura Music is a “purpose-built, artist-centric music company, bringing together leading technology and a relentless focus on creative excellence.”
Over the last year, Bella Figura’s team has been quietly amassing a catalog of recording and publishing assets with financing aid from private equity fund Freshstream.
So far, Bella Figura has acquired the publishing catalog of Guy Chambers, one of the songwriters behind Robbie Williams‘ “Angels,” “Feel” and “Let Me Entertain You,” as well as David Gray‘s record label IHT, which owns and controls all of the singer-songwriter’s albums, from 1998’s White Ladder to 2019’s Gold in a Brass Age.
According to the company’s announcement, Gray is “closely involved with Bella Figura Music,” acting as an “interested party” in the catalog’s business dealings. Gray’s management team at Mick Management will remain closely involved with the catalog, new products and new initiatives. “Dave remaining involved financially and with creative controls and input intact was a key feature of us wanting to do the deal,” says Cory-Smith. “This is the kind of deal we really like.”
Other acquisitions by Bella Figura include R3HAB‘s recorded music catalog up until 2022, including “All Around the World,” “Sad Boy,” “Runaway” and “Call Me”; AWAL’s divested portfolio of rights, including shares of recordings by Gray, Placebo, The Wombats and Dashboard Confessional; songwriter-producer Darrell Brown’s publishing shares in 25 of his songs, including songs performed by LeAnn Rimes and Keith Urban.
“I view David Gray and Guy Chambers as the founding blocks on which we build the business,” Cory-Smith says. “One is records, the other is publishing — both top quality catalogues. I am very proud of what we have achieved in Bella Figura Music’s first year of business.”
Cory-Smith adds, “I’ve always wanted to have my own music company and after years in corporates, the timing to take an entrepreneurial path felt right.”
“I’ve been looking for a new partner for my music for quite some time, so when I heard about Alexi and Bella Figura I thought it had the potential to be a good fit,” says Gray. “They struck me as a company with serious ambitions, an eye for detail and a point to prove, and the fact that I had a good relationship with Alexi from her time at Chrysalis/BMG was definitely a major positive too. The world of music and technology is in a state of constant flux and it’s vital to work with people who are not only attentive to its challenges but also alert to its opportunities. I feel very optimistic that with Bella Figura I’ve found just that.”
“I’m so pleased to be working with Bella Figura,” adds Chambers. “I think Alexi is one of the most dynamic executives working in the music industry. Having Alexi at the helm of Bella Figura is an exciting prospect for what is a new and vital area for songwriters in the industry today.”