Business News
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Multimedia Music acquired the music publishing and music master rights for the entire film music library of STX Entertainment, which encompasses titles such as Bad Moms, The Gentlemen and Den of Thieves and music from composers such as Hans Zimmer, Cliff Martinez and Nicholas Britell. The eight-figure deal does not include rights in any of STX’s current or future films.
Deezer struck a long-term partnership with Sonos to power Sonos Radio and the subscription service Sonos Radio HD. Starting in April, Deezer will provide Sonos with a catalog of 90 million tracks, metadata, licensing, reporting & royalty management, business intelligence & data and strategic collaboration for growth and monetization of the service. Deezer and Sonos will deliver services to 16 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Yusuf/Cat Stevens signed to Dark Horse Records, which will release the singer-songwriter’s forthcoming album as well as seven legacy albums from his catalog, which are owned by Yusuf’s Cat-O-Log Records. Dark Horse’s merchandising arm, DH Merchandise, will operate the official Yusuf/Cat Stevens store.
ClicknClear, a music tech company that provides access to officially licensed music for performance sports and fitness, signed a multi-year agreement with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), a leading sports organization in the United States. The NFHS promotes amateur sports participation throughout all 50 states and Washington, D.C., serving 19,500 high schools and an estimated 12 million young people across the country. It also administers high school athletics and activities and establishes regulations for the sanctioning of events. Through the deal, ClicknClear will license the catalogs of its more than 800 label and publisher partners to NFHS’s performance sports participants, with the NFHS also using ClicknClear’s license verifications system to enforce that licensing. Performance sports include cheerleading, dance, gymnastics, figure skating, marching band and show choir. ClicknClear’s music catalog currently includes 5 million tracks and more than 15 million publishing rights from Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG, Kobalt, Concord and Downtown, among many others.
Cutting Edge Media Music (CEMM) secured $100 million in new financing from a consortium of banks led by Pinnacle Financial Partners. CEMM — a financing and investment company with expertise in music for film, TV, video games and more — is supported by other businesses under its parent company, the Cutting Edge Group (CEG), including Cutting Edge Music Publishing, Lakeshore Records, Broadway Records, Music.Film and White Stork. “I look forward to our partnership with Pinnacle to help give the next wave of film and TV composers the opportunity to monetize their catalogues,” said Cutting Edge Group founder/CEO Philip Moross in a statement. CEG’s head of mergers and acquisitions, Tim Hegarty, represented Cutting Edge in the deal.
Triller acquired Julius, a software solution for influencer marketing. “We are delighted to integrate the industry-leading technology from Julius into Triller’s Creator Platform,” said Triller CEO Mahi de Silva in a statement, adding that with the acquisition, “Our unique AI-powered platform now delivers an end-to-end solution for the creator economy from brand storytelling to driving e-commerce.”
Music credits database Jaxsta executed a heads of agreement (a.k.a. letter of intent) to acquire Vampr, a music industry social networking platform. The acquisition increases Jaxsta’s footprint in the creator community by 1.3 million creators. According to a press release, Vampr’s freemium business model successfully converts 4% of the app’s weekly active users into paying subscribers — a number that’s expected to increase when Vampr Pro is bundled with the Jaxsta Creator subscription. Vampr founder/CEO Josh Simons will join Jaxsta as chief strategy officer.
GreenCity Partners and ASM Global struck a deal to develop and operate the proposed 17,000-seat GreenCity Arena in Henrico County, Va., which is part of a planned $2.3 billion mixed-use/net-zero energy GreenCity development. The agreement allows ASM Global to partner in other aspects of the development, including its main street retail and hospitality uses. Construction is slated to begin in early 2024, with completion expected in 2026.
In more ASM Global news, the company struck a long-term lease agreement and $40 million renovation plan with the City of Glendale, Ariz., for the Desert Diamond Arena as part of a strategy to increase the venue’s returns and prominence as a key component in the city’s growth as an entertainment hub. ASM Global has operated the city-owned venue for the past six-and-a-half years. The firm HOK has been selected to help with the venue’s renovation and design.
ASM Global also signed with the city of Fishers, Ind., to provide pre-opening services and professional management for the city’s new $170 million sports and entertainment center, which is set to open in Dec. 2024. In addition to hosting concerts and other events, the forthcoming 7,500-seat venue will be home to the East Coast Hockey League’s Indy Fuel. Expected to break ground in March, the venue is part of the city’s $1.1 billion in economic and entertainment investments announced in September.
Los Angeles-based rock duo Loveless signed with BMG worldwide. The duo, which released their debut self-produced EP, End of an Era, last year, is slated to embark on a headline tour this spring in North America and Europe, in addition to festival dates.
Amazon Music is the new title sponsor of The Ivors, under a global deal that will see the company showcase the Ivors’ commitment to supporting songwriters via exclusive content offerings and live performances as well as an “immersive” red carpet and backstage interviews that will be livestreamed on the Amazon Music UK Twitch channel for the 2023 ceremony. Additionally, the company will integrate the Ivors’ 2023 “Rising Star” nominees into its global developing artist program, Breakthrough.
Micro-licensing and music solutions company Lickd struck a deal with EMPIRE and Kobalt Music Group to license their music catalogs to Lickd’s Chorus music player for use in the metaverse world of Decentraland’s Vegas City.
SESAC Digital Licensing and Wise Music Australia partnered on an exclusive digital licensing deal for the Wise Music catalog in Asia (excluding Japan, South Korea and China) for rights including performance, mechanicals, grand rights, hire materials and synchronization. SESAC Digital will negotiate agreements with online service providers on behalf of Wise Music in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam. The partnership will be administered by Mint Digital Services, an alliance between SESAC-US and Swiss authors’ rights society SUISA.
Singer-songwriter Susan Tedeschi signed with Brian Greenbaum at CAA. The signing coincides with the 25th-anniversary reissue of Tedeschi’s 1998 album, Just Won’t Burn. Tedeschi and her husband, musician Derek Truck, are with Full Stop Management for their solo work.
Memphis-based music credit and information services provider Sound Credit partnered with PPL for neighboring rights collections in North America. Via its sister brand Soundways, Sound Credit’s North American artist community will now be able to take advantage of PPL’s international collections service.
Live Nation will serve as the exclusive promoter for BECU Live and the Pepsi Outdoor Summer Concert series under a new deal with Northern Quest Resort & Casino and the Kalispel Tribe of Indians in Washington state.
Grammy-nominated songwriter and artist Delacey signed to Photo Finish Records, which released her new single, “Man on the Moon,” on Friday (Feb. 17).
Underoath signed to MNRK Heavy on a global basis. The label released the rock band’s latest single, “Let Go,” on Feb. 15.
Virgin Music UK reached a sales and distribution deal with Liverpool-based independent label Modern Sky UK (Jamie Webster, Leah Weller, Red Rum Club).
Pop duo Crash Adams signed to Warner Music Canada/Warner Records, which released their latest single, “California Girl.”
British DJ/producer Riton signed with Atlantic Records/Big Beat, which released his first-ever solo single, “Sugar,” on Friday (Feb. 17).
Sony Classical signed organist Anna Lapwood and will release a five-track EP of film transcriptions in April, with an album to come later in the year.
Tuned Global singed a deal with Lululemon Studio to provide their B2B white-label playlist app for Lululemon’s in-person and virtual workouts.
Chicago trio Lifeguard signed with Matador Records. New music from the band — which previously released an album and two EPs — is expected in the spring.
Joel Zimmerman has joined the management, production and business development firm Range Media Partners, where he will serve as a partner in the music division, the company announced Wednesday (Feb. 22). In his new role at Range, which launched in 2020, Zimmerman will represent clients with a focus on long-term career strategy, creative development, cross-over positioning, branding, IP and global touring.
“I’m most passionate when I have a vision for an artist’s career path or see where a new market can be created, while having the right set of resources to not only ideate but bring it all to fruition,” said Zimmerman. “I believe the best and most forward-thinking cultural platform for music talent is at Range. The team’s ability to mobilize with very high-level resources, combined with a truly amazing company culture, makes for the best breeding ground to turn the biggest dreams into reality. I am so excited to be building at Range and to make a positive impact on the continuously evolving industry.”
Prior to joining Range, Zimmerman had a 13-year run at WME, where he helped break artists including Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, Steve Lacy, Avicii, Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki, Psy, Kygo, Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5. Altogether, Zimmerman served as an architect of the U.S. electronic music boom of the early to mid-2010s, particularly as he developed the template for Las Vegas DJ residencies. During this same era, Zimmerman signed The Weeknd and helped guide the artist to superstar status.
“Joel has consistently managed to cut through the noise — and competition — by landing clients lucrative touring, club and festival deals, as well as crossing them into other entertainment arenas,” said Range Media Partners CEO Peter Micelli. “The result of his groundbreaking work has created new pathways and platforms that break future stars and legitimize new music genres.”
“We could not be more excited to welcome Joel to Range,” Micelli added. “He is the preeminent thought leader in the music industry and a true force of nature, with an inherent ability to identify talent and looming trends. We’re thrilled to add an executive and partner of his caliber to the company.”
Los Angeles-based communications firms BB Gun Press, headed by Luke Burland, and MixedMediaWorks, helmed by Bobbie Gale, have joined forces to form 2B Entertainment.
Combined, their client roster includes Shania Twain, Josh Groban, Steve Earle, Danny Elfman, My Chemical Romance, Meghan Trainor and OK Go.
“MixedMediaWorks was founded on the principle that we only work on projects we believe in,” said Gale in a statement. “It means we can remain completely dedicated to the select group of clients we take on. We’re excited to be working with Luke and her team as they share the same values: honesty, loyalty, hard work, open and constant communication and being the best partners to our clients.”
Burland added, “Our plan is simple: keep working with clients we love, deliver incredible results and have some fun along the way.” Burland and Gale will run the company together.
Other clients include Brian Tyler, Holly Humberstone, Julian Casablancas, Justin Tranter, Maggie Lindemann and Saleka Shyamalan. Corporate accounts include CITI, +1 Records, Laylo, Dad Grass, Muserk and Cosm.
The two veteran publicists have long known each other, first collaborating more than 20 years ago on Dave Navarro when Gale was at Capitol Records and Burland at Kathryn Schenker Associates. The two briefly worked together at a previous iteration of BB Gun, owned by Brian Bumbery, in 2016-2017. Burland joined BB Gun in 2016 after leaving Warner Records where she was senior vp of publicity. Gale worked at BB Gun from 2013 to early 2017 when she left to become vp of media & strategic development at Warner Records. In 2020, she launched MixedMediaWorks. Burland has led BB Gun since 2018 when Bumbery left for Apple Music.
Jessica Keeley-Carter was promoted to executive vp of global marketing at Warner Music Group. Based in the United Kingdom, Keeley-Carter will take on a bigger global role, working closely with marketing leads in Asia, Latin America and Canada alongside her current remit in the U.K. She most recently served as senior vp of global marketing. That role will now be filled by Tony Corey, who was previously vp of global marketing. Based in New York, Corey will continue supporting campaign executions and long-term artist strategy; he was previously vp of global marketing. He has led Warner’s Global Priority System since joining the company in 2021.
The Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), which represents the global independent music sector, appointed its board of directors for 2023. Partisan Records COO Zena White will serve as chair, working closely with WIN’s newly appointed CEO Noemí Planas on delivering on the organization’s goal of growing and connecting the indie music community worldwide. Joining White on the board are three new directors: AIM’s COO Gee Davy, N.E.W.S managing director Geert De Blaere, Sub Pop Records/Hardly Art/Sub Pop Publishing president Tony Kiewel and GoDigital, Cinq Music and VidaPrimo chair Jason Peterson, who was elevated from his prior role of board observer. They will succeed outgoing directors Lisa Levy (Robbins Entertainment USA), Michael Lambot ([PIAS]) and Paul Pacifico (AIM). Elsewhere, former WIN board chair Maria Amato (AIR) is now treasurer; she will continue to sit with Mark Kitcatt (Everlasting Records), Richard Burgess (A2IM), Oliver Knust (IMICHILE) and White on the executive committee. Finally, Nerea Serrano was appointed community and projects manager at WIN; she joined the organization as communications officer in 2021.
Jamie Spinks was named head of A&R at Columbia Records UK, reporting directly to Columbia UK president Dipesh Parmar. He joined the label last year, signing and developing Venbee. He’ll be tasked with overseeing the direction of the Columbia UK A&R strategy while also running the joint venture label Room Two. Spinks was at Polydor Records for 10 years prior to his Columbia hire.
Rob Brown was hired as COO at mprs Global, the royalty tracking and collection service founded by the team behind mtheory. He joins from Kobalt Music Group, where he worked for nearly 12 years, most recently as vp of business affairs & commercial strategy. He can be reached at rob@mprs.co.
Ultra International Music Publishing opened a new creative hub in Lagos, Nigeria, where its African operations will be overseen by London-based A&R manager Harold Serero. As part of the announcement, the publisher revealed the signing of Nigerian artist Amexin to the roster.
Beville Dunkerley will step down from her role as SiriusXM/Pandora head of country music talent & industry relations to launch her own media training consultancy focusing on actors, athletes, authors and recording artists. She joined Pandora more than six years ago prior to its SiriusXM merger. Dunkerley can be reached at bevilledarden@gmail.com. (via Country Aircheck)
Four executives were promoted at Zync/Round Hill Music: Madison Norris to executive vp of creative operations, Kelly Ross to vp/head of creative licensing and publishing, Becca Luce to senior director of film & TV/creative publishing and Steve Nalbert to vp of sync licensing and digital. Norris will facilitate day-to-day management for the Zync creative licensing team, leading marketing efforts for both frontline and back catalog. Ross will lead synch licensing for the catalog and handle pitching for advertising while also signing songwriters and artists to frontline publishing and master deals. Luce will guide the co-write team with expanded A&R responsibilities along with film and TV pitching. Nalbert will build, optimize and carry out Round Hill Music’s digital strategy, collaborating with partners including Meta, Apple and TikTok.
Agent Dave Kaplan joined Paladin Artists, where he brings more than 20 clients including Spacey Jane, The Black Angels, Gary Numan, The Kills, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Allah-Las. He was previously at ICM Partners and has also worked at Paradigm and The Agency Group.
Keisha Perry Walker joined entertainment law firm Carter + Woodard as a new counsel. She will provide counsel to recording artists, producers, songwriters, manager, executives, independent labels and digital influencers, among others.
Linda Yaccarino was appointed group chair at YMU, a role she will occupy alongside her current position as chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. She will work closely with YMU Group CEO Mary Bekhait. Also at YMU, Dani Chavez was promoted to senior marketing manager of the U.S. music division. Based in Los Angeles, Chavez will work closely with the company’s individual artist managers while reporting to YMU Music US head of marketing SuzAnn Brantner.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum senior vps Nina Burghard and Lisa Purcell were promoted to executive vp roles. Burghard was elevated to executive vp of finances and operations and Purcell was upped to executive vp of external affairs. Both will report to CEO Kyle Young. Burghard oversees the museum’s financial operations as well as some information and technology elements, in addition to the human resources and maintenance & operations departments. Purcell supervises the marketing and public relations departments and provides leadership in individual & planned giving, memberships & corporate partnerships, educational programming and public affairs. Purcell can be reached at lpurcell@countrymusichalloffame.org and Burghard can be reached at nburghard@countrymusichalloffame.org.
Also at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Ben Hall was promoted to vp of development, Paul Kingsbury was hired as senior director of editorial and interpretation, Luke Wiget was promoted to senior director of creative and Leigh Anne Wise was promoted to senior director of facilities, operations and sustainability. Hall oversees diverse fundraising initiatives and manages Country Music Hall of Fame member relations on behalf of the museum. Kingsbury will manage editorial staff and the development of written content for the museum’s website, exhibitions, public programs, publications, educational materials and online offerings. Wiget will guide the creative and project management teams responsible for producing the museum’s exhibitions, books, videos, education materials, marketing collateral and social media content. Wise oversees facilities maintenance, building projects, building operations including security, housekeeping and event setup, as well as sustainability initiatives.
Courtney Allen was promoted to senior director of A&R at Concord Music Publishing in Nashville. She was previously director of A&R. During her time at the publisher, she has signed Justin Wilson and Jennifer Wayne and contributed to catalog and publishing deals with Russell Dickerson and Corey Crowder. Allen can be reached at Courtney.allen@concord.com.
Jon Pikus was named vp of A&R/business development at Wixen Music Publishing. Based in the company’s Calabasas, Calif., office, Pikus will sign new artists, songwriters, producers and catalogs to Wixen’s roster, in addition to setting up collaborations and co-write sessions for the existing roster. He’ll report to Wixen president/CEO Randall Wixen, CFO/COO Andrew Wixen and chief technology officer/executive vp Jason Rys. Pikus has held A&R roles at Columbia Records, Interscope Records, MySpace Records and more. He can be reached at jpikus@wixenmusic.com.
Lydia Kanuga was promoted to vp of media relations at PR firm The Chamber Group. In her new role, Kanuga will create and implement publicity strategies for a roster that includes Usher, the Michael Jackson estate, Mass Appeal and Toni Braxton. She will also take a lead role in business development prospects for the company. Based in New York, Kanuga reports directly to Chamber Group principal/founder Chris Chambers. She can be reached at lydia@thechambergroup.com.
Alex Siciliano was appointed senior vp of communications at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). He will lead NAB’s communications team, and oversee the association’s outreach while spearheading messaging strategies to further NAB’s initiatives and advocacy issues before Congress and the Biden administration. He also serves as chief spokesperson for NAB and as a key advisor to senior leadership. He most recently worked as deputy chief of staff to former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Col.).
John Moser and Ale Delgado were promoted to senior project managers at Thirty Tigers in Nashville; both were previously project managers. With their elevations, Moser and Delgado will play a bigger role in departmental operations while managing album release campaigns for the company. Elsewhere, Micki Windham was promoted to senior production manager, up from her previous role of production manager; Sydney Clancy‘s role was expanded from catalog coordinator to production coordinator, which will see her supporting all production efforts for both new releases and inventory management; and Alex Ramsay was promoted to independent retail sales & marketing manager, a bump from her previous role of independent retail sales & marketing coordinator. Thirty Tigers also announced several recent hires, including Kayla Ganz and Lauren Caudle. Ganz boarded the company in February 2022 as director of digital sales and streaming, joining from Naxos Music Group, while Caudle joined in September 2021 as project manager coordinator before being promoted to project manager in June 2022. Finally, Zack Hallcroft returned to Thirty Tigers as project management coordinator, joining the company from CDA Entertainment.
The Women’s Music Business Association (WMBA) announced its 2023 board of officers, organizational chairs and board of directors. Serving on the 2023 board are president Virginia P. Brick (SESAC); vp Aura Guadagno (Varnell Enterprises); treasurer Taylor Baird (Wiles + Taylor & Co.); secretary Alyssa Hoffman (manager of Wayland); events & education co-chairs Libby Gardner (Academy of Country Music) and Megan Clemons (CSM Management); and marketing & membership co-chairs Mackenzie Adkins (Rhonda & Company) and Aya Robinson (Opry Entertainment Group). On the WMBA board of directors are newly-elected chairwoman Amery Fridenstine (Above Board Consulting) along with brand-new board members Sheree Spoltore (Global Songwriters Connection), Jensen Sussman (Sweet Talk Publicity) and Christy Walker-Watkins (The AristoMedia Group/AristoPR). Brandi Simms (MooTV, Moo Creative & The Steel Mill) will continue in an advisory role as board of directors emeritus, while Lauren Spahn (Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley, & Norton) will act as legal counsel.
Ed Thompson joined ATC Live, bringing clients Jungle, Iron & Wine, Car Seat Headrest, Zero Zero Bonito and Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs to the agency. He joins the company from Free Trade Agency. Thompson can be reached at ed@atc-live.com.
Mallory Mason Pascal was promoted to partner at artist business management firm KFBM (previously King Business and Financial Management); she joined the company in 2020. Pascal can be reached at mallory@kbfmgmt.com.
Abi White was named head of dance and electronic promotions at Kartel Marketing Agency, the marketing and media promotions agency within Kartel Music Group. White will lead promotions for all dance and electronic agency clients as well as Kartel’s electronic label, EMK. She joins the company from For the Record PR, where she served as co-founder and co-director.
Desiree McCann was named manager of international marketing at Los Angeles-based management company Hills Artists. She will handle day-to-day management for Hills Artists clients while supporting and driving international marketing campaigns for the roster. Additionally, Brenna Rindfuss has been promoted to manager. McCann joins Hills Artists from Universal Music Australia, where she worked in artist development. She can be reached at desiree@hillsartists.com.
Alliance Entertainment’s plan to go public through a reverse merger with Adara Acquisition Corp. — a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) — got sideswiped by the collapse of the SPAC market.
While the deal was finalized Monday (Feb. 13) and Alliance Entertainment is now a publicly traded company, it leaves the media wholesaler without the initial intended benefit of reaping tens of millions of dollars in new funding to continue making acquisitions to fuel growth and to modernize its warehouse equipment.
That’s because only Adara shareholders owning 167,00 shares (out of 10 million total) have chosen to participate as stockholders in the merged entity. As a result, Alliance Entertainment only received about $1.67 million, which likely isn’t enough to cover the legal and investment banking fees for the transaction.
Alliance Entertainment Holding
The company’s light stock float also leaves it ineligible to be listed by the New York Stock Exchange as originally planned, so now Alliance is being carried on the OTC pink-sheet marketplace.
Alliance Entertainment — which carried a $480 million valuation going into the deal — remains a formidable powerhouse as a one-stop rack jobber and independent distributor and overall entertainment software wholesaler, however. While the company brought in $28.62 million in net income on revenue of $1.42 billion for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, it lost $8.34 million on sales of $238.7 million for the three-month period spanning from July to September.
Alliance Entertainment announced its plans to go public via a SPAC reverse merger in June 2022. At that point, investor excitement over the SPAC route to public listings had already cooled from its high in 2021, but by the end of the year, it had totally tanked. And even if Alliance Entertainment didn’t raise as much money as it had hoped by going public, there are other benefits. As a publicly traded company with audited financial statements that need to surpass the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission, it should now be able access capital and options to raise funding through debt beyond its previous reliance on bank loans.
“We believe that today’s milestone combined with our strong revenue growth, expanding customer base and product offering, and several successful acquisitions, will help accelerate our future expansion initiatives,” said Alliance Entertainment CEO Jeff Walker in a statement. “Alliance Entertainment today is well positioned to continue to capitalize on shifts towards eCommerce and Omni-Channel strategies, especially with retailers and manufacturers’ vastly increased reliance on their DTC (Direct to Consumer) fulfillment and distribution partners. We are at an inflection point that now positions us to execute a multi-prong growth strategy that we expect will deliver a double-digit revenue growth rate with strong cash generation to the bottom line.”
Alliance Entertainment serves as a physical music, movies and video games wholesaler to retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Kohls and Gamestop, as well as independent stores; it’s also a rack jobber to chains like Walmart and Barnes and Noble. It additionally provides e-commerce fulfillment to many of those retailers and runs its own online websites including Deepdiscount.com, Popmarket.com, Importcds.com, Critic’s Choice Video, Collectors Choice Music and Movies Unlimited, while fielding its own brands on eBay, Amazon Marketplace and Discogs as well. In total, nearly $540 million, or 38% of Alliance’s revenue, is generated through the above online sales.
In total, Alliance says it stocks over 485,000 unique entertainment products from Microsoft, Nintendo, Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, Funko, Disney, Warner Home Video, Universal Video, Sony Pictures, Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Warner Music, Sony Music, Universal Music, Mattel, Lego, Hasbro, Arcade1Up and another roughly 500 entertainment product manufacturers. Within that, the company also fields independent distribution companies like music distributor AMPED, video distributor Solutions and video game distributor Cokem that exclusively carry over 57,000 vinyl, CD, DVD and video games titles combined.
“This business combination [with Adara] will further enable our significant focus on a strategic roll-up strategy of acquiring and integrating competitors and complementary businesses which we believe will drive an accelerated competitive position and value creation,” said Alliance Entertainment chairman Bruce Ogilvie in a statement. Being a publicly traded company will allow for further investment, he added, in automating facilities and upgrading proprietary software, which he said makes management “confident we can grow revenue and expand margins.”
Ogilvie continued, “We will also continue to expand into new consumer product segments, growing our product offering and providing more to our existing customer base while attracting new customers in the process.”
Walker and Ogilvie retain nearly 95% ownership in Alliance Entertainment and their shares are subject to an extended lock-up period.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has rebranded his parent company from Combs Enterprises to Combs Global as the top rapper and record producer continues to diversify his portfolio of music, fashion, drinks and TV ventures internationally.
“Combs Global represents the next chapter in my journey as a business leader and a bigger vision to build the largest portfolio of leading Black-owned brands in the world,” Combs said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Bad Boy Entertainment Group founder, who is credited with carving out a new niche within the hip-hop genre, has in recent years expanded with new businesses like Empower Global formally Shop Circulate, Our Fair Share, Love Records and cannabis distribution by acquiring Cresco Labs.
Combs with the rebrand is looking to project continued expansion, and globally. “I’ve enlisted world-class teams of top executives, specialists and strategic partners to bring this new dream to life and put us in the best position to keep making history while leading another 30 years of dominance across industries,” he said.
Combs bought back his Sean John fashion line in 2020 and also forged a partnership with Diageo for his Ciroc Vodka label and later acquired tequila brand DeLeón. He also launched the fitness and wellness water brand AQUAhydrate.
In 2013, Combs launched REVOLT Media & TV, the first Black-owned multiplatform cable music network, which now reaches more 80 million homes and 20 million monthly viewers digitally.
More recently, Combs acquired The Nile List, invested in the creator platform REC Philly and expanded his Capital Preparatory charter school network to now include campuses in the Bronx, New York and Hartford, Connecticut.
The corporate rebrand includes a new website and logo unveiled as part of a Uber One Super Bowl commercial that starred Combs as he dreamed up a hit song for Uber One.
This article originally appeared on THR.com.
50 Cent and Fox Entertainment have agreed on a non-exclusive multi-project broadcast direct deal.
Announced Tuesday (Feb. 14) by Fox Entertainment’s president of scripted programming Michael Thorn, 50 Cent (born Curtis Jackson) will “develop scripted dramas, live-action comedies and animated series that would air on FOX. Any series created under the deal will be owned by FOX Entertainment and produced by its in-house unit, FOX Entertainment Studios, in collaboration with G-Unit Film & Television.”
“Whether it’s music, film, or television, Curtis always delivers premium entertainment that captivates millions of fans across the globe,” said Thorn in a press release. “He is the rare multi-hyphenate with a deft hand at storytelling, no matter the format or medium, and we’re looking forward to developing new and exciting series for FOX with him and his team.”
Adds 50: “I am excited to formalize a partnership with Michael Thorn and FOX that will allow G-Unit Film & Television to focus on putting multiple series on FOX, a perfect broadcast destination for G-Unit Film & Television content while our premium, streaming, scripted and non-scripted slates continue to grow in all directions.”
Last week, 50 graced Billboard’s digital cover issue that celebrated the 20th anniversary of Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and his formidable multi-media empire.
“My run was so uncomfortable that everyone would like to forget that it happened,” 50 ruminated about his fiery ’00s run. “That’s just the way it is with the artist community. I didn’t come in being friendly because I had to find a way into it — not find a way to be good enough to work in the community. The biggest compliment in the early stages was that artists felt like they’d made it when they got the deal. You had to earn the right to have the deal.”
You can read the story in full here.
Hipgnosis Song Management announced a deal on Tuesday that gives Beatclub producers access to some of Hipgnosis’ iconic hit songs and boosts its own access to more synch opportunities, the companies said in a joint statement.
Launched in 2021 by four-time Grammy winner Timbaland and his longtime manager, the head of Mono Music Group Gary Marella, Beatclub is an online marketplace built to help creators and producers monetize their beats and music.
Beatclub users can already use beats by Timbaland and others, like Justin Timberlake, Tainy, J. Cole and Mike Dean, in their own mixes. Hipgnosis, which also invested in Beatclub’s recent series A-2 funding round, will now also offer a hand-picked collection of songs from its catalog approved for sampling by Beatclub’s elite tier of producers. Any other rights that artists need to have cleared for usage are handled by Beatclub’s licensing team.
The deal could also help place more of Hipgnosis’ songs in films, TV, ads and games because Beatclub’s portal helps connect artists on its platform to synch opportunities with major brand, label, gaming and production companies. Similar strategies have been deployed by other catalog companies, like Primary Wave.
Timbaland has worked with Hipgnosis and its founder Merck Mercuriadis before, having sold his catalog to the music investment in 2019.
“At a time when interpolation and sampling has never been a more important part of creation and success, I want the greatest creators in the world to have access to our incomparable songs to make them the hits not only of the past but the future,” Mercuriadis, founder and head of Hipgnosis Song Management, said in a statement.
Calling Mercuriadis a “disruptor,” Timbaland said Mercuriadis’ “vision of the future of the music creator economy aligns closely with Beatclub’s.”
Marella, Beatclub’s co-founder, said Hipgnosis’ mission to promote songwriters and producers’ rights aligns with Beatclub’s values. “Beatclub … was built for creators by creators,” Marella said in a statement. “Our mission has always been to empower artists, song writers and producers however we can.”
Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has sold its Spanish-language network Mega TV to Voz Media for $64 million, the company announced Monday (Feb. 13). The sale, which includes associated real estate, preserves the Hispanic ownership of Mega TV, which targets Spanish-speaking Latinos in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
The purchase must still be approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Founded in 1983, SBS is a Spanish-language media company that owns and operates radio stations in the Tropical, Regional Mexican, Spanish Adult Contemporary, Top 40 and Urbano formats. It also operates AIRE Radio Networks, a national radio platform that boasts more than 290 affiliated stations reaching 95% of the U.S. Hispanic audience, according to the company. SBS went public in 1999.
Miami-based Mega TV — a staple in Hispanic television that boasts over-the-air, cable and satellite distribution in Puerto Rico and multiple affiliates throughout the mainland U.S. — airs around three dozen original programs, including Bayly, Dante Night Show, Mega Noticiero, La Corte del Pueblo, Latin Angels and Mega Kids.
“I am very proud of the nearly two decades of award-winning programming, community dedication and industry accomplishments achieved by Mega TV, a network operation that succeeded in forging its own unique position among Hispanic viewers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico,” said SBS chairman/CEO Raúl Alarcón in a statement.
Alarcón continued: “I am especially pleased to leave this unique asset in the hands of a dedicated Hispanic owner, Orlando Salazar, the founder of Voz Media, who will continue the expansion of Mega TV and honor its unwavering commitment to faithfully serve our nation’s burgeoning Latino population. Minority ownership of the media, and the opportunities it affords to our nation’s fastest-growing constituency, is a critical component in guaranteeing a stable, profitable and promising future for America.”
Voz Media was founded in 2022 by CEO Orlando Salazar in Dallas, with headquarters in Las Colinas, Tex. The company, which provides “alternative news and content for Latinos,” is planning a slate of original series and films “that reflect the core Hispanic values of hard work, faith and commitment to family” for its streaming platform targeted at the U.S. Spanish-speaking market and Latin America, according to a press release. The company also has offices in Miami and Madrid.
“It is an honor for Voz Media to be selected to continue the work and tradition started by Raúl Alarcón and Mega TV in the Spanish language television media market,” added Salazar. “We take seriously the challenge of moving Mega TV forward in both reach and content, as we continue to serve Spanish speakers across the United States.”
SBS president/COO Albert Rodriguez added, “We couldn’t be more proud of the fact that the legacy of Mega TV will continue under the leadership of another Hispanic-owned media company. Orlando and the Voz Media team have our unqualified support and we look forward to working with them throughout this transition and beyond.”
Jangwon Lee‘s life in music began in typical Korean fashion. “All the kids in my generation grew up with the piano at some point in their lives,” Lee says over the phone from Seoul. His love of the instrument continued beyond childhood with a piano duo, The Serendipity, but has taken a back seat to serial entrepreneurism.
While studying business administration at Seoul National University, Lee co-founded Campusdal, a food delivery app. Then, after two years in the Korean air force, he founded Mapiacompany, a technology firm that operates three online platforms for independent musicians to sell digital sheet music. The experience set the stage for Lee’s remaking of Korea’s music intellectual property (IP) business.
“It gave me the legal knowledge that was necessary to start my new business — the publishing, the copyright laws, how to monetize, how to distribute the royalties,” Lee says.
Now, Lee is the CEO of two-year-old Beyond Music, a music investment firm with 26,000 copyrights and about $250 million under management. In 2021, Beyond Music created Asia’s first song fund with support from institutional investors including KB Securities, Base Investment and Maven Growth Partners. Last year, it added funding from the electronics and entertainment company Dreamus.
In 2022, Lee doubled down on Korean content by launching an exchange-traded fund focused on Korean entertainment companies, the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF. Prominent Korean music companies HYBE, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment are in its portfolio, but it also includes Studio Dragon, a TV studio; Naver, owner of messaging app Line; and Kakao, owner of Korea’s largest music subscription service, Melon.
In the West, investment money has been flowing heavily into music IP for more than a decade, especially in the last five years. It seems like the practice took root in Korea much later. Why do you think that is?
In 2017-18, when Hipgnosis started, there were very few precedents for Korean capital markets. You’ve got to understand the market, the nomenclature, the industry network. You have to know the nooks and crannies of the IP business. And also, you need to have a financial grasp, the understanding of capital markets, how to raise capital, how to structure the company, how to build, how to do tax-efficient modeling, IRR [internal rate of return] predictions, quantitative valuations. This is very much a quantitative business, whereas the understanding of the IP business is a relatively qualitative business. So, these are polar opposites in terms of business characteristics. In the past, I don’t think in Korea there was a team that really embodied these polar opposites.
We have people from PwC, KPMG, KKR and Morgan Stanley on our team. We have producers and someone who used to be a top-level executive of the largest music value chain company in Korea. I think that was why we were first to scale, to be able to build and raise funds from the very conservative institutional capital of Korean or Asian private equity and limited partner network.
Streaming is driving growth in global recorded music and publishing revenue, and that growth has helped attract new investors and more investment in general. Is streaming also the main factor behind increased investor interest in music IP in Korea?
Yes. I think it’s twofold. No. 1: streaming in the domestic market. Korea ranked [at] No. 6 in terms of market size for music globally. Japan is No. 2. Add Japan and Korea together, it almost equals the European Union. So it is a big market on its own, and local growth here is definitely driving part of it. Another part is Korean content’s market share in the global music industry. In the past, Korean music rights’ primary source of revenue was domestic usage, and therefore domestic growth was the only tailwind. But now we see the market share of Korean music growing exponentially year over year in other parts of Asia and moreover in Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa regions, Europe, North America. Not just BTS and BLACKPINK, but more midtier artists. You become fans of Korean music through those more hallmark artists, but you end up trickling down to other more long-tail or indie artists as well. And all the markets have been benefiting.
You have a large catalog. Do some of your less popular songs have commercial potential outside of Korea?
We have a mix of more global, more well-received catalogs and older, Korean-focused catalogs. The former obviously is a direct beneficiary of such a market growth trend. The latter, to a lesser degree, is also benefiting. It’s surprising that songs on Spotify that are not as famous as BTS at all are getting relative hype from other parts of Asia, and we see it for some of our older catalog as well. I don’t know how they were discovered, but on YouTube playlists, on YouTube comments, we see Spanish, we see French, we see it with Southeast Asian languages for songs we own that are 10 to 15 years old.
Multiples and valuations have risen a lot over the last few years. What’s the Korean market like right now? Is it as heated as other markets?
It is more heated than before, but to my knowledge, the blended multiple acquisition average used to be between 20 and 30 times. Now with the higher interest rate, multiples are still within the high teens, like 17, 18, 19, or at least like 15. But in Korea, or at least for us, our acquisition multiple, the blended average, is still below 10. So, we have been able to acquire very good assets. We think they are not lesser than their U.S. or U.K. counterparts at all. So, from a quantitative viewpoint, these don’t necessarily have to be valued at such a discrepancy. But I think it’s a newer market here, and therefore there’s less competition.
Is it safe to assume that you’ll encounter more competition in the coming years?
I’m hoping not. But from a reasonable standpoint, I do see that may be unavoidable. But it’s a good thing for us, because it will also help with our existing catalog valuing up.
What do you do to create additional value for the IP you purchase? Do you actively manage, market and promote the catalog — what Hipgnosis calls “song management”?
Whatever Hipgnosis is doing, we’re doing it essentially, whether it be synch, remixes, copyright, better revenue collection techniques. We put our methodologies into two main categories: active management and passive management. We define passive as collecting what was already ours but was somehow being lost due to Content ID not being perfectly managed by YouTube itself. So we employ additional music-pattern recognition — tech companies around the world — to do better collection for our existing catalog, which I know Hipgnosis is also doing. We try to find and mix a better lineup of distribution companies — intermediary publishers, etc. — to maximize our revenue while minimizing the middleman fee. For active, we’re doing remakes. We’ve already done a dozen remakes of our songs. I think two are now in the top 100 charts for Korean music. These are songs that were published 16 years ago, so after acquisition, we made remakes of the songs with new, up-and-rising artists in Korea. By remaking the songs, we hold the new assets as well as our existing assets. We’ve also worked with media channels in Korea to do music-related shows.
You recently purchased your first major U.S. acquisition: the catalog of producer-songwriter Greg Wells. To do this, you set up a U.S. subsidiary. Do you plan on creating subsidiaries in other countries to pursue acquisitions elsewhere?
Yes, for sure. The U.S. was a symbolic move for us. Our targets, however, lie toward lower-multiple opportunities. So, basically, Asia. We might set up subsidiaries. We might get direct acquisition from our Korean entity. But positioning ourselves as a more Asia-focused, Asia-Pacific music aggregator is our next step.
What might surprise people about the Korean music market?
The market size. For starters, it’s larger than most European countries — larger than Canada, Mexico or most Latin American countries, or even countries with more population like Indonesia. I think it’s bigger than Italy. Korea is really an advanced country. I can say that with more certainty now than I would have been able to seven or eight years ago.
How much of South Korea’s music market depends on the ability of K-pop to keep growing as much as it has in recent years?
That is a topic of interest for Korean media and Korean industry specialists as well — whether this is a one-hit wonder, a short-lived irregularity or a trend. People have been internally questioning, or doubting, the longevity of the trend. This issue has been raised for five, six years. Every year, there’s someone who says, “OK, you know, this cannot sustain. Maybe this is the peak. The next year, it might be difficult.” But the last five or six years have seen more growth every year, surpassing everyone’s expectation. This does have a kind of faith component, and I do have faith. I’m biased. But I think my bias stands with multiple consecutive years of a proven record. There’s no other country, outside of the U.S., that spends and reinvests as much money for better-quality music production as Korea. I’m very, very optimistic that this is not a one-time thing, but is a trend that will stick around at least for the next 10 years.