State Champ Radio catalog sales
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Influence Media has acquired the publisher’s share of a big chunk of the song catalog of Harry Styles collaborator Tyler Johnson. While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, the acquired catalog includes all songs Johnson co-wrote on Styles’ first two solo albums, as well as tunes recorded by Meghan Trainor, Sam Smith, Maren Morris, Keith Urban, Diplo, Miley Cyrus and John Legend.
According to the ASCAP/BMI SoundView song platform, Johnson is credited with writing or co-writing 197 songs. The 67 songs included in the catalog acquisition cover those he wrote from 2012 through 2020, according to the announcement.
“Influence Media is committed to partnering with the secret weapons behind some of music’s modern classics, and Tyler Johnson is at the top of that list for his work with Harry Styles alone, along with fellow superstars like Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor and Miley Cyrus,” Influence Media partner and founding advisor Rene McLean said in a statement. “We are so proud to represent Tyler’s works and look forward to introducing them to even wider audiences.”
Influence Media, which is partnered with Black Rock and Warner Music Group, previously acquired the master recording catalog of Blake Shelton for his records issued between 2001 and 2019 as well as Future’s song publishing catalog, among other music investments.
“It has been a pleasure working with the trusted team at Influence Media on my song catalog,” Johnson, a Grammy winner and five-time Grammy nominee, said in a statement. “These songs are very important to me and I feel our deal reflects the value of this catalog that I have built over the last 10 years.”
According to Influence Media, it formed the collaboration with Johnson “as part of its investment strategy built on ‘modern evergreens,’ songs and artists with a strong potential for long-term impact on pop culture.”
“Rene and I have been doing business with various clients for a while now, he’s a straight shooter,” said Johnson’s manager Nathaniel Cochrane in a statement about the deal. “It was a pleasure to get this deal over the line together and I look forward to building with Influence.”
Johnson was represented in the deal by Francois Mobasser, Audrey Benoualid and Andrew Paster at Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light. Influence Media Partners was represented by Lisa Alter, Katie Baron and Jaclyn Felber at Alter, Kendrick & Baron.
A majority stake in late rapper Juice WRLD‘s rights and income streams quietly sold to Opus Music Group in early 2022 in a nine-figure deal, according to a source close to the acquisition. Opus now owns 90% of Juice WRLD’s interest in master recording income and 90% of his share of publishing ownership.
The prolific Chicago-born talent’s deal includes his “hundreds” of unreleased tracks as well as his full released music catalog. Ownership of his master recordings remains with his label partners, Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.
Opus Music Group is financially backed by Elliott Management, a New York-based investment management company with one of the largest activist funds in the world. According to Opus Music Group’s website, the firm represents three artists: Juice WRLD, Rauw Alejandro and Maluma.
Juice WRLD boasts five top five-charting albums on the Billboard 200, encompassing the entirety of his charting releases. Two of those albums, Death Race for Love and Legends Never Die, finished at No. 1 on the tally. The late rapper has also charted nine songs on the Billboard Hot 100. He’s earned 16.3 million equivalent album units in the United States for his solo albums as well as his collaborative set with Future, according to Luminate. He also has 26.2 billion on-demand official streams in the U.S. for his catalog of songs where he’s billed as the primary artist, including those credited to Future & Juice WRLD from their collab set, according to Luminate.
Opus Music Group, which would not comment on deal terms, emailed the following statement to Billboard: “To represent the body of work of Juice Wrld – whose cultural significance and generational influence can’t be overstated – is an honor and a responsibility.”
A representative for Juice WRLD declined to comment.
Born Jarad Anthony Higgins, Juice WRLD died in 2019 following a seizure when he was 21 years old. He is best known for his hit “Lucid Dreams,” a melodic, emo-tinged rap track that brought the Soundcloud Rap subgenre to mainstream airwaves in 2018 and reached No. 2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. The emotive, catchy track was the focal point of his debut album, Goodbye and Good Riddance (2018), a record which also included “All Girls Are the Same,” his first song to gain serious traction, as well as “Lean wit Me,” “Wasted” and “Armed and Dangerous.” That same year, he released the collaborative mixtape with Future called Future & Juice WRLD Present…Wrld on Drugs. One year later, he released his second album, Death Race for Love, which featured the song “Robbery” and reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Juice WRLD was also known for featuring on other artists’ tracks, often crossing traditional genre lines in the process. Some of his collaborators included Lil Uzi Vert, Benny Blanco, Trippie Redd, Ellie Goulding and BTS.
Posthumously, Juice WRLD has released even more music, starting with the 22-track record Legends Never Die (2020) and Fighting Demons (2022).
Los Angeles-based private equity firm Shamrock Capital raised $600 million in a new fund aimed at acquiring film, television, music, video games and sports rights, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 2).
Founded in 1978 as Roy E. Disney‘s family office, Shamrock now says it has $4.4 billion of total assets under management, including $2 billion in its content strategy, thanks to the close of this new fund, the Shamrock Capital Content Fund III.
Shamrock has become a powerful force in music catalog investment space, which continues to draw in deep-pocketed Wall Street investors, like Brookfield Asset Management.
Shamrock made headlines in 2020 when it bought Taylor Swift’s Big Machine catalog from Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. (Braun’s firm acquired the master recordings as part of its acquisition of Big Machine in 2019.) Last month, Shamrock bought a portion of Dr. Dre’s music income streams and some owned music assets alongside Universal Music Group. Its other investments include Stargate’s publishing catalog, the trade publication AdWeek and the fantasy sports platform FanDuel.
“We are truly grateful to our existing and new investors for their commitment to this fund and our strategy overall,” said Patrick Russo, partner at Shamrock. “The closing of SCCF III continues to build on our multi-product platform and long-term strategy of owning and financing premium content and media rights. Our track record of successfully investing in these sectors stands out and uniquely positions Shamrock to capitalize on the trends, changes, and opportunities across the global media and entertainment landscape.”
In 2021, Shamrock expanded into the lending space with a $196-million debt fund intended to loan money to intellectual property owners across music, film, TV, games and sports. Shamrock’s Capital Debt Opportunities Fund raised the money from both existing and new limited partners and is managed by Shamrock partners and other investment professionals, including pension funds, foundations and financial institutions.
Reservoir Media has purchased the catalog of Bronx-born talent Dion Francis DiMucci, better known as Dion. The deal includes his publishing catalog and future works as well as synchronization rights to his master recordings.
Best known for releasing defining, R&B-infused rock in the 1950s and ’60s, Dion’s catalog includes “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer,” “Ruby Baby” and “Dream Lover,” which he released with his band Dion and the Belmonts. Over the course of his career, he has accrued 11 top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Despite his many decades of success, Dion continues to tour and release music today. In 2021, he released the album Stomping Ground featuring Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler and more.
Dion’s songs have continued to permeate pop culture, particularly via their placement in films and TV shows, including Diner, Peggy Sue Got Married, Little Big League, The Sopranos, Behind Enemy Lines, The West Wing, The Wire and Ozark. Additionally, his life and songbook inspired the creation of The Wanderer, a musical that had a successful pre-Broadway run at Paper Mill Playhouse in April 2022.
“I am most pleased to enter into this great new relationship with Reservoir,” Dion said in a statement. “I know how much the Reservoir team appreciates my work, and I am looking forward to some exciting times ahead with them. I want to thank the entire Reservoir team for helping to make it happen, particularly Rell Lafargue, Jonathan Sturges and Faith Newman. I also want to thank Marvin Katz, my attorney, who introduced me to Reservoir and represented me in the transaction.”
Reservoir’s executive vp of A&R and catalog development, Faith Newman, added, “Dion is a pillar of early rock and roll music and wrote and recorded songs that are universally loved and recognized. He continues to make music with and inspire the genre’s biggest names today. It’s an honor to support both his evergreen catalog and future hits.”
Concord Music Publishing has acquired the majority of country songwriter-producer Corey Crowder‘s catalog and signed him to a co-publishing deal that also includes his future works. He was formerly signed to Tree Vibez.
The acquisition of Crowder’s catalog includes Chris Young’s two-times platinum single “Famous Friends” (featuring Kane Brown) and other hits from Young, Florida Georgia Line and Chase Rice, among many others.
“Corey is a proven, consistent, country hit-maker,” says Brad Kennard, senior vp of A&R at Concord Music Publishing in Nashville. He adds that the signing and acquisition represent “a big leap forward for Concord’s footing within the active country market. We are committed to representing significant real estate in the format. Further evidenced by locating Concord global headquarters here, we aim to continue our aggressive growth in Nashville.”
Kennard adds that Crowder’s catalog “stacks up with the best of the best and fits perfectly” alongside the company’s existing roster of country songwriters, including Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Andy Albert, Josh Miller and Russell Dickerson.
Crowder, a Georgia native, relocated to Nashville in 2010 and has built a catalog of songs that also includes Young’s Billboard Country Airplay chart-toppers “I’m Comin’ Over” and “Think of You” featuring Cassadee Pope (neither of which is included in the acquisition). He’s also a co-writer on the Florida Georgia Line hits “Long Live” and “I Love My Country,” as well as the duo’s Rice collaboration “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” In 2022, Crowder earned the Country Music Association’s Triple Play award for his role in writing three chart-topping songs within a 12-month period. He’s spent a total of four weeks atop Billboard‘s Country Songwriters chart.
As a producer, Crowder’s credits include work on Florida Georgia Line’s Life Rolls On album, Justin Bieber‘s “Yummy (Country Remix),” LoCash‘s “One Big Country Song” and the Chris Tomlin/Lady A collaboration “Who You Are to Me.” He’s also enjoyed placements on TV shows including Nashville, One Tree Hill and The Real World.
“The Concord team has such a great vision and passion for great songs and songwriters,” adds Crowder in a statement. “I’ve known a lot of the team and their writers for some time now. So, it felt like a natural fit.”
Hipgnosis Songs Capital has closed its deal to buy 100% of Justin Bieber‘s publishing, as well as his artist royalties from his master recordings and neighboring rights, Hipgnosis has confirmed. The deal was priced at just north of $200 million, according to a source familiar with the situation, making this the largest rights sale for any artist of Bieber’s generation. It’s also Hipgnosis’ biggest acquisition to date, covering all 290 titles in Bieber’s catalog released prior to Dec. 31, 2021, including his most recent album Justice (2021).
Billboard originally reported in December that a Bieber deal valued at over $200 million was in the works amid founder and chief executive Merck Mercuriadis‘ efforts to “close about $500 million in deals” between mid-November and mid-December. Although Mercuriadis did not say what the deals were at the time, the Bieber acquisition appears to be part of that disclosure.
Following a hot 2021 for catalog sales, with deals like Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon making headlines and some of the world’s biggest private equity players including Blackstone, KKR and Apollo Global Management all taking stakes in the market, rising interest rates and changes in currency exchanges cooled the sector in 2022. Still, deals have been getting done. Last year, Justin Timberlake, Leonard Cohen, Nile Rodgers, Kenny Chesney, Neil Young and Nelly Furtado all sold some of their rights to Hipgnosis. Sting, David Bowie‘s estate, Phil Collins and his Genesis bandmates, Future, Frank Zappa and Neil Diamond also sold certain assets to investors in 2022.
Typically, newer catalogs like Bieber’s are considered riskier investments since they don’t have as much history behind them to prove staying power. That means they often sell for lower multiples than those of classic acts. Bieber’s success, however, has been undeniable since his 2009 debut album, My World, and the 2010 follow-up My World 2.0, the latter of which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart and included the hit single “Baby.” In all, Bieber has charted eight No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, including his most recent full-length studio release, 2021’s Justice.
On the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, Bieber has collected 26 top 10s, including eight No. 1s. His albums have generated 28 million equivalent album units in the U.S., of which 13.2 million are in traditional album sales, according to Luminate. His collected songs billed primarily to him, per Luminate, have generated 16.6 billion on-demand official streams in the U.S.
“The impact of Justin Bieber on global culture over the last 14 years has truly been remarkable,” said Mercuriadis in a statement. “At only 28 years of age, he is one of a handful of defining artists of the streaming era that has revitalized the entire music industry, taking a loyal and worldwide audience with him on a journey from teen phenomenon to culturally important artist. This acquisition ranks among the biggest deals ever made for an artist under the age of 70, such is the power of this incredible catalog that has almost 82 million monthly listeners and over 30 billion streams on Spotify alone. Scooter Braun has helped him build a magnificent catalogue, and it’s a pleasure to welcome Justin and his incredible songs and recordings to the Hipgnosis family.”
“I want to thank Merck and his entire Hipgnosis team and all of our partners involved for working so hard to make this historic deal happen,” says Scooter Braun, Bieber’s manager for 15 years, founder of SB Projects and CEO of HYBE America. “When Justin made the decision to make a catalog deal we quickly found the best partner to preserve and grow this amazing legacy was Merck and Hipgnosis. For over a decade now Justin Bieber has entertained us and moved us with some of the biggest songs in the world. I’m so proud of him and all those involved over the years in helping amass this incredible body of work. Justin is truly a once in a generation artist and that is reflected and acknowledged by the magnitude of this deal. For 15 years I have been grateful to witness this journey and today I am happy for all those involved. Justin’s greatness is just beginning.”
Justin Bieber was represented by Braun, David Bolno of NKSFB, Aaron Rosenberg and Audrey Benoualid of Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light LLP, and Michael Rhodes of Cooley.
Hipgnosis Songs Capital was represented by William Leibowitz of William R. Leibowitz Law Group, Seth Traxler and Rory Wellever of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and Robert Fowler and Lisa Ong of H.W. Fisher.
Primary Wave has announced its acquisition of Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek‘s rights as it pertains to their involvement with The Doors. This includes the guitarist and late keyboardists’ recorded music, publishing, trademarks and merchandise rights and income. Jim Morrison, the band’s lead singer, and John Densmore, its drummer, continue to own the remaining interests in the Doors’ rights.
One of the most influential and enduring rock acts of its time, The Doors formed in Los Angeles in 1965, fearlessly injecting everything from bossa nova, blues, jazz and more into their songwriting. Epic songs like “Light My Fire” (seven minutes) and “The End” (nearly 12 minutes) were proof of their boundary-pushing pursuits in popular music. Defined by Manzarek’s busy keys, “Light My Fire” became the band’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit in 1967. From there, the group went on to mint 6 gold-certified records with Morrison at the helm.
Manzarek died in 2013 at age 74 after a battle with cancer. Morrison, known as the “Lizard King,” passed away in 1971 at only 27.
Songs like “Riders on the Storm,” “People Are Strange,” “Break on Through (To the Other Side)” and more are still considered some of the most inventive and lyrically-profound of their time. “The End” took on even more cultural significance more than a decade after its release as the opening soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979).
By the 1990s, the group’s legacy was cemented with their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and memorialized in the Val Kilmer-starring biopic The Doors (1991).
As the new rights holder of Krieger and Manzarek’s interests in The Doors’ catalog, Primary Wave will work alongside Jeff Jampol, the band’s manager and founder of Jampol Artist Management, to help with the marketing, digital, licensing, sync for further empowering the band’s legacy.
“Ray and I spent a lot of time discussing the future of The Doors’ legacy, and how to handle things after he departed this plane,” says Dorothy Manzarek. “Our family has worked patiently to find the right partners to continue Ray’s lifelong efforts in protecting and promoting his art, and now we are happy to have finally come to an agreement with Primary Wave. Under the continued guidance of our manager, Jeff Jampol, Primary Wave will be the right partners in this endeavor to build future generations of new Doors fans.”
“The Doors are one of the most legendary rock bands of all time. We are looking forward to growing the legacies of Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek,” says Larry Mestel, CEO and founder of Primary Wave Music. “We are also very happy to be working alongside such an industry icon as Jeff Jampol to tastefully grow opportunities for The Doors.”
John Branca, David Byrnes, and Kelly Vallon Ciccotti negotiated the deal on behalf of the sellers.
Warner Music Group’s global catalog division has struck a deal to represent Yes’ complete Atlantic Records works, an era that spans 12 studio albums and includes the prog-rock legends’ Grammy Award-winning ‘80s classic 90125.
WMG announced today (Jan. 23) that it has acquired the recorded music rights and income streams to a raft of albums, from 1969’s Yes through the band’s final studio album of its Atlantic/Atco period, 1987’s Big Generator, along with various live recordings and compilations. (See a full list below)
Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers “came together and worked enthusiastically with Warner Music Group to secure this historic deal,” reads a statement from the band, “ensuring that these iconic recordings will continue to be curated in the optimum manner to delight their fans across more than five decades, while also finding and developing new audiences for this timeless music.”
Covered by the acquisition is 90125, the multiplatinum album from 1983 that yielded “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” the biggest hit from Yes’ 50-year-plus career. The single peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at No. 28 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart; a 2005 remix, credited to Max Graham vs Yes, went to No. 9 in the U.K., one of the group’s two top 10 hits in their homeland.
Also, an instrumental track from the 90125 album, “Cinema,” went on to win the Grammy Award for best rock instrumental performance.
While Yes did not have any No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, the band did land seven in the all-genre chart’s top 10: 1971’s Fragile (No. 4), 1972’s Close to the Edge (No. 3), 1973’s Tales From the Topographic Ocean (No. 6), 1974’s Relayer (No. 5), 1977’s Going for the One (No. 8), 1978’s Tormato (No. 10) and 90125 (No. 5) — all of which are covered by the new deal.
Global album sales total 30 million units worldwide, according to WMG.
“My introduction to Yes came while working at a record store in Ohio in 1983,” comments Kevin Gore, Warner Music’s president of global catalog. “I loved the 90125 album and went to see the band live, where I was introduced to their catalog of incredible songs. I’ve been a fan ever since and we’re absolutely thrilled and deeply honored that the strong relationship between Yes and Warner Music will continue forever.”
The Yes lineup evolved much like the group’s music. The 90125 incarnation featured Trevor Rabin on guitar, alongside singer Jon Anderson, late bassist Chris Squire, late drummer Alan White, and original keyboardist Tony Kaye. In 2021, private equity firm Round Hill Music Royalty Fund acquired the music publishing catalogue from Rabin.
Yes entered the Rock Hall in April 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on a night when folk icon and social justice activist Joan Baez, string-augmented rock hitmakers Electric Light Orchestra, arena rock titans Journey, grunge pioneers Pearl Jam and West Coast rap god Tupac were all elevated.
Rush bassist and fellow Hall of Famer Geddy Lee inducted the band and joined them onstage for a “crushingly loud” run-through of “Roundabout,” Billboard reported at the time.
Speaking backstage about it, Lee said, “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t f— it up. They are without question my favorite band.”
Yes studio albums, live recordings, and compilations included in the deal:
Yes (1969)Time and a Word (1970)The Yes Album (1971)Fragile (1971)Close to the Edge (1972)Yessongs (1973)Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)Relayer (1974)Yesterdays (1975)Going for the One (1977)Tormato (1978)Drama (1980)Yesshows (1980)Classic Yes (1981)90125 (1983)9012Live: The Solos (1985)Big Generator (1987)Yesyears (1991)Yesstory (1992)Highlights: The Very Best of Yes (1993)In A Word: Yes (1969-) (2002)Yes Remixes (2003)The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection (2003)The Word Is Live (2005)High Vibration (2013)Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two (2015)The Steven Wilson Remixes (2018)Topographic Drama: Live Across America (2017)Yes 50 Live (2019)
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The way things are going, music rights valuations are likely to remain steady in the new year, according to dealmakers.
Total music consumption in the United States rose 9.2%, according to Luminate’s 2022 year-end report. While that was slower than the 11.3% consumption growth in 2021, “9.2% relative to 11.3% is not a massive move in growth,” says David Dunn, managing partner at Shot Tower Capital. “As a whole, the growth rates are within expectation for me and still very healthy,” adds Andy Moats, executive vp and director of music, sports and entertainment at Pinnacle Financial Partners. Last year’s numbers were also in line with the expectations of Daniel Weisman, principal at Bernstein Private Wealth Management. “Goldman Sachs’ report published in June of 2022 put streaming CAGR [cumulative annual growth rate] at 12%,” he says.
A mitigating factor is the difference in margins between digital and physical formats. On-demand song streaming — both audio and video — climbed 12.2%. On-demand audio streaming grew 12.1%, the same rate achieved in 2021. Physical album unit sales dropped 3.5%. CD unit sales fell a modest 11.6%, while vinyl LP unit sales grew 4.5% to a record 43.5 million units. Despite Taylor Swift selling nearly 1 million units of her Midnights album on vinyl and Beyoncé showing strong album sales across vinyl and CD formats, music consumption was — again — more digital than the prior year.
With streaming up and physical formats down, that mix is favorable for catalogs. “Margins are improving” as a result of increased digital consumption, says Dunn. Digital music is less expensive to distribute than physical formats — especially vinyl, which has relatively weak margins and high shipping costs. The cost of producing an additional download or stream is effectively zero, aside from negligible costs of data storage and bandwidth. That’s a net positive for catalog valuations. Experts value music catalogs by discounting future cash flows to a single present value. When revenues shift to higher-margin digital formats, rights holders will receive more cash.
The gains do not accrue evenly to all recordings and compositions, though. Last year’s streaming growth could “potentially” support current valuations for a catalog 10 years or older, “especially against a rising rate environment,” says Weisman.
Younger catalogs with decaying royalty growth, however, are a different matter. “I think for newer catalogs that have not yet leveled off and whose royalties are not increasing, it’s hard to argue that all the external economic factors — rising interest rates, inflation, etc. — do not have an impact,” says Weisman.
The shift in product mix carries implications for recorded music valuations specifically. As consumption increasingly skews toward digital, recorded catalog margins will catch up to those in the publishing business, says Dunn. “I generally think margin growth is continuing and I think investors are realizing you can exploit recorded catalog at margins similar to publishing.”
Focusing only on unit sales doesn’t tell the entire story, however. Vinyl records may have relatively poor margins, but rising vinyl prices create more margin dollars for labels. In the first half of 2022, the average sale price of vinyl in the United States rose 5.6% to $26.16, according to the RIAA.
Streaming is also becoming more valuable. After more than a decade of flat subscription prices, companies such as Apple, Amazon and Deezer are raising prices. Spotify’s CEO has indicated the company intends to raise prices in 2023, as well. Due to these increases — often just $1 per account — the U.S. streaming market could generate hundreds of millions of additional dollars this year without sacrificing a meaningful number of subscribers.
Nari Matsuura, partner at Citron Cooperman, believes the U.S. market is even healthier than Luminate’s data shows. That’s because music is becoming more ubiquitous with tech in our everyday lives, meaning there is revenue growth that consumption data can’t track.
“While streaming growth captured the whole narrative of the U.S. market a few years ago, now the narrative has changed to include much more than streaming,” she says. “Growth also needs to take into account the licensing of alternative music platforms, such as Peloton and Facebook, as well as the stellar growth in synch licensing due to the volume of new programming by SVODs as they compete for subscribers.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring a sale of its music assets that could be worth upwards of $1 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. The catalog is being shopped by famed entertainment attorney Allen Grubman.
While the potential sale — which was first reported by The Financial Times — is still in the very early stages, some of Warner Bros. Discovery’s current music partners could be potential buyers.
Universal Music Group (UMG) already administers the publishing assets, which are likely the largest part of the deal, and Warner Music Group (WMG) distributes WaterTower Music, Warner Bros. Discovery’s in-house record label.
The assets being shopped, including music and production music from the company’s television and film projects, are not the kinds of music rights that have made headlines over the past couple of years as investors have flocked to the music business. Unlike most publishing rights or royalty streams, the Warner Bros. Discovery assets are not tied to the steady growth trend affecting traditional streaming. That’s because relatively few people head to Spotify to stream the soundtracks for Game of Thrones, The White Lotus or Batman, for example, even if the television and film projects are smash successes. As such, these type of assets have historically trade lower than popular music rights — typically in the single-digit multiples.
The asset valuations will likely be tied to broadcast trends, which are growing slower for film and television than for music. But due to the depth of the catalog, which dates back decades, the package will likely be seen as an attractive and stable investment for any major music company or private equity fund.
Warner Bros. Discovery formed last year through the merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit and Discovery Inc.
Warner Bros. Discovery, UMG and Grubman did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publishing. WMG declined to comment for this story.
