State Champ Radio KOBALT
Kobalt is raising $266.5 million through the sale of a security backed by the publishing royalties of a 5,000-song catalog that includes YoungBoy Never Broke Again (a.k.a. NBA YoungBoy), AJR, Busta Rhymes and Jessie J.
The securitization is backed by a catalog valued at $410 million by Virtu Global Advisors, according to a pre-sale report by Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) released Tuesday (Feb. 20), which gave Kobalt’s asset-backed security an A- preliminary rating.
The bond allows Kobalt to raise capital on the value of the catalog and pay back investors with the publishing royalties the compositions generate. That puts music royalties in the company of common asset categories such as auto loans, mortgages and credit card receivables — all have a contractual obligation to pay — that are frequently used in asset-backed securities.
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The proceeds are expected to be used to fund reserve accounts, pay certain transaction expenses, repay existing debt and for other general corporate purposes, according to KBRA’s report.
Kobalt’s asset-backed security is the latest in a handful of large securitization deals in the music industry in recent years. Since 2021, Concord, Hipgnosis Song Management, KKR Credit Advisors (with a catalog owned and administered by Kobalt) and Northleaf Capital Partners have raised money through music asset-backed securities rated by KBRA.
The catalog backing Kobalt’s bond is diversified but younger than the typical multi-million-dollar music asset transaction. About 40% of the total net publisher share comes from compositions released since 2019 and about 43% comes from compositions first released between 2011 and 2018. Less than 3% of the total net publisher share comes from compositions from 2000 or earlier.
Nearly a third of the catalog — 29% of the last 12 months’ royalties collections — may be terminated prior to the legal final payment date in 2064, but no termination windows will fall within the next 30 years, according to KBRA. The catalogs of two artists, which account for about 1% of the catalog’s value, are subject to contractual reversion or termination prior to the final payment date. One song is currently subject to a copyright infringement claim that would result in legal expenses and reduced cash flows.
Pop music accounts for 52% of the catalog’s value while hip-hop represents 28% and rock accounts for 9%. Revenue from the United States makes up 63% of gross collections compared to 12% for the European Union and 10% for the United Kingdom.
Sony Music Publishing ruled the Top Radio Airplay, Hot 100 Songs and Country Airplay publisher rankings for its third consecutive quarter of 2023, and Warner Chappell Music surged to No. 2 on the Hot 100 Songs chart — the first time it has held the position since the Hot 100 ranking began in 2019.
For the period spanning July through September, all of the big three publishers benefited from shares in the Afrobeats radio hit “Calm Down” by Rema and Selena Gomez. Sony also benefited from stakes in “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen, which hit No. 5 on the Top Radio Airplay chart, and Taylor Swift’s surprise hit “Cruel Summer,” which reached No. 3 on the quarter’s Hot 100 Songs ranking, four years after its initial release due to its placement as the opening song of Swift’s The Eras Tour.
Last quarter, Tracy Chapman’s Purple Rabbit Music publishing company broke into the Hot 100 and Top Radio Airplay charts (ranking No. 7 and No. 10, respectively) for the first time, thanks to Luke Combs’ cover of her 1988 song “Fast Car.” This quarter, her market share as a publisher/songwriter grew even higher. Chapman finished the quarter as the top songwriter on all three charts, propelling Purple Rabbit Music to No. 5 on Top Radio Airplay and No. 6 on both Hot 100 Songs and Country Airplay.
But she wasn’t the only self-published songwriter to make the charts this quarter. As the sole writer of “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Oliver Anthony Music’s publishing company, Christopher Anthony Lunsford Pub Designee, placed at No. 8 on Hot 100 Songs with a 1.49% market share, surpassing such top 10 perennials as Downtown and Reservoir. Like Chapman, Anthony is the sole songwriter of his breakthrough song.
This is the first time that two independent songwriters have broken into the Hot 100 Songs chart at the same time.
Warner Chappell rose to No. 2 on the Hot 100 ranking for the first time in 19 quarters. Previously, it often ranked third or fourth. “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen, “Calm Down” by Rema and Selena Gomez, and 49 other Hot 100 Songs hits accounted for its strong showing of 18.18% of the market share. The publisher held steady in third place on the Top Radio Airplay chart with 15.87% of the market share, and ranked second on the Country Airplay chart with a 26.2% share.
Universal Music Publishing Group took second place on Top Radio Airplay — where its song placements increased to 52 from 49 in the second quarter — and third on Hot 100 Songs. Combs’ “Love You Anyway,” No. 3 on Country Airplay; “Cruel Summer”; and “Calm Down” were UMPG’s highest-ranked songs.
Kobalt held fast to No. 4 on both Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs but slid to No. 5 on Country Airplay behind BMG. The latter publisher’s share in Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” helped it edge past Kobalt’s 4.59% market share with 4.93%.
BMG and Big Machine Music both climbed in the ranks on the Country Airplay charts this quarter. BMG rose from fifth to fourth ranking, thanks to its share of 12 songs on the chart this quarter, including Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor.” BMM climbed from eighth last quarter (2.57%) to seventh this quarter (2.97%), thanks in part to Luke Bryan’s “But I Got a Beer In My Hand.”
Concord finished 10th on Top Radio Airplay with 1.37%. That percentage might rise in the fourth quarter due to its acquisitions of Round Hill Music and Mojo Music & Media in September. If Concord’s third-quarter market share was combined with those of Round Hill and Pulse, which Concord also owns but lists separately, it would have finished at No. 5 on Top Radio Airplay with 4.96% and at No. 7 on Hot 100 Songs with 3.1%.
Rounding out the top 10, Reservoir fell to No. 8 on Top Radio Airplay with 1.82%, though it improved on its No. 7-ranked second-quarter share of 1.62%. It rounded out the Hot 100 Songs top 10 with 1.17%. Hipgnosis (1.76%) and Downtown (1.44%) finished at No. 9 on Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs, respectively.
Additional reporting by Ed Christman.
Up-and-coming Mexican singer/songwriter Angel Sandoval has signed a multi-year global publishing agreement with Kobalt. This will be the first publishing agreement for the 23-year-old artist, who earlier this year, won his first SESAC Latin Music award for “Si Ya Hiciste el Mal,” which was recorded by Luis R. Conriquez and Jessi Uribe. Explore See latest […]
Kobalt, the digital-focused publishing administration company, has teamed up with investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value to invest more than $700 million into music IP in the next few years. The partnership will see Kobalt managing the creative, sync, licensing, administration and investment services for the copyrights that are purchased.
The deal, which was advised by Goldman Sachs, marks Kobalt’s return to managing investment for outside capital. Previously, Kobalt had two funds it worked with under Kobalt Capital, its investment management arm, both of which were sold in recent years. Kobalt’s first fund contained over 33,000 songs, including songs recorded by Lindsey Buckingham, Steve Winwood, the B52’s, 50 Cent, George Benson, Bonnie McKee, Nelly and Skrillex. It sold to Hipgnosis Songs Fund in late 2020 for a price tag of $323 million or 18.3 times the net publishers share, and it realized a $20 million gain for Kobalt. While it was the biggest sale for Kobalt at the time, the first fund represented less than 30% of Kobalt’s IP holdings at the time.
The second fund, Kobalt Music Royalty Fund II, sold to an investment group comprising of KKR and Dundee Partners the following year for $1.1 billion. To manage the investments of the royalty fund as well as other IP previously acquired by KKR, the partners formed a platform Chord Music Partners, which tapped Kobalt Music Publishing to continue to handle publishing administration for the works. The fund is believed to have included the SONGS publishing catalog, Insieme Music catalog, which it acquired from Glassnote, and the David Hodges catalog.
Since that sale, Kobalt has not worked with outside money for catalog acquisition.
Outside of Kobalt Capital, the publishing administrator, helmed by chief executive Laurent Hubert, has made a number of other major changes in its business. In 2021, it also sold off AWAL, the artist services company and distributor to some of music’s most successful independent talent, and its neighboring rights operations to Sony. In September 2022, following reports of its first-ever profitable year, Kobalt sold a majority stake to Francisco Partners.
“Kobalt is a pioneer in investing in music, increasing the value of copyrights, and creating music as a viable asset class,” says Hubert. “Morgan Stanley Tactical Value’s trust in Kobalt is a testament to our platform and leadership in the music industry. We are proud to form this unique partnership.”
“Morgan Stanley Tactical Value has profound respect for songwriters and the immense value of their art,” said Cameron Smalls, managing director, Morgan Stanley Tactical Value. “We are thrilled to partner with the leading creator-first publisher that is a pioneer in maximizing royalty collections for songwriters and rightsholders. Together with Kobalt’s infrastructure and deep commitment to bettering the music industry, we are excited about our partnership and the opportunities ahead.”
During the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) annual meeting on Wednesday, the trade organization announced its latest board of directors.
The latest executive board includes: Jody Gerson (Chair and CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group), Keith Hauprich (general counsel and executive vp, business and legal affairs, North America, BMG), Laurent Hubert (CEO, Kobalt), Carianne Marshall (co-chair and COO, Warner Chappell Music), Jon Platt (chair and CEO, Sony Music Publishing), Jim Selby (chief publishing executive, Concord).
Other board members include: Marti Cuevas (founder and president, Mayimba Music), Justin Kalifowitz (executive chairman, Downtown Music Publishing), Golnar Khosrowshahi (founder and CEO, Reservoir), Jody Klein (owner and CEO, ABKCO), Kenny MacPherson (CEO, Hipgnosis Songs Group), Chip McLean (svp, head of business affairs and business development, Disney Music Group), Larry Mestel (founder and CEO, Primary Wave), Michael Molinar (general manager, Big Machine Music), Jeff Pachman (general manager, Domino Publishing), Ralph Peer II (executive chair, peermusic), Irwin Robinson (vp, Richmond Organization), Jon Singer (chairman, Spirit Music Group).
The 20-member board comprises an executive board featuring leaders from the six largest companies according to revenue from the previous year, a general board of 12 additional publishing leaders, and two songwriters representing creatives’ point of view. To represent songwriters, the board elected Laura Veltz to replace Liz Rose, who recently reached her term limit of four years. Ross Golan is returning as the other songwriter representative.
Domino’s Pachman is this year’s only new publisher to join the board, replacing Leeds Levy.
All board members receive equal voting power and will meet four times annually to oversee the activity and budget of the NMPA. The board plays a major role in determining the legal actions of the trade organization, which is known to fight aggressively for fair pay and licensing for compositions.
This year, the NMPA is focused on new legal action it is taking against Twitter, which was also announced at Wednesday’s event. According to the complaint, the NMPA — along with over a dozen of music publishers — is suing Twitter over allegations of widespread copyright infringement, seeking as much as $255 million in damages.
Is there another $1 billion in global publishing royalties that rights holders can gain by using better technology? That’s what Kobalt CEO Laurent Hubert says.
When Kobalt was bought by Francisco Partners last September, the disruptive innovator known for its publishing administration clients like Karol G, Phoebe Bridgers and Max Martin said that a primary goal of this next chapter would be growing its little known and even less understood global digital rights collections society for compositions, the American Music Rights Association.
In the months since, Kobalt and its new owners have refined their strategy for scaling this “unpolished gem,” as Francisco Partners and Kobalt board director Matt Spetzler calls AMRA. Their first hurdle? Explaining what exactly the global mechanical and performance rights society focused on collecting digital-specific income can accomplish. “Too few people know what AMRA does,” says Hubert.
In an industry where, according to CISAC’s 2021 annual report, over 36% of global music publishing revenue royalties come from digital sources — a figure AMRA says will grow to 80% within five years — Kobalt believes AMRA can better leverage its technology and its direct agreements with digital service providers to streamline digital royalty collection across 212 countries, cutting out the friction or delays of a traditional performing rights organization (PRO). Their biggest licensees include some of the largest DSPs, like Spotify and Apple Music, but they are also working with promising new brands like China-based TikTok rival Kuaishou and others.
AMRA says it is a one-of-a-kind service, providing clients faster turnarounds for royalty collection (in six to nine months), more precise accounting for digital royalties and audit rights, and greater transparency that its executives say make AMRA clients and the wider industry a lot more money.
How much? AMRA CEO Tomas Ericsson estimates that clients can gain “as much as 30%” more royalties in certain regions. Hubert contends that if his companies can reduce the percentage of money that leaks from the $8 billion to $9 billion of royalties collected by the global music industry on the publishing side, excluding writer’s share — “leakage” that stems from high intermediary costs, poor matching, undercollection and underlicensing — AMRA and other players in the industry could grow the pie by another $1 billion for collection and distribution. AMRA could be a tool to help accomplish that, Hubert says.
Ericsson explains that AMRA can go to streaming services and “offer the entire catalog for Kobalt music publishing and an additional three publishers and an additional 180 writers to these streaming services, and we can give them those rights globally under one license. [The streaming services] report to us directly, and they pay us directly.
“In doing so, we can avoid a lot of noise, high fees, inefficiencies, poor technology and local issues,” Ericsson says.
Since its acquisition by Kobalt in 2015, AMRA has distributed almost $500 million in digital royalties on behalf of songwriters and rights holders. Managed as a separate entity under the Kobalt umbrella, AMRA generated $117.3 million in revenue in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and the company currently expects AMRA will generate $150 million in revenue during this fiscal year. Hubert declines to provide specific financial targets but says he expects double-digit revenue growth this year from AMRA, and that its growth rate will substantially exceed Kobalt’s.
Apart from its DSP licensees, AMRA works with songwriters such as Julia Michaels, Lindsey Buckingham, Sam Hollander and independent publishers like Sundae Music Publishing, Anthem and Spirit. It’s also partnering with functional or mood-music companies, such as Strange Fruits, Vanity Snare Music, Lullify Music and Acrylic Records, whose music is popular on passive-listening playlists. Kobalt remains AMRA’s largest licensee, Ericsson says.
Kobalt, AMRA and its new owners are aligned on their aim to massively scale AMRA. Those owners are Francisco Partners, a California-based private equity firm that favors tech-forward music companies; MUSIC, the firm of music industry veteran and investor Matt Pincus; and Dundee Partners, the quietly influential family office of Stephen and Sam Hendel whose investments range from The Knitting Factory to the Fela! musical to music investing platform JKBX. Kobalt founder and chairman Willard Ahdritz and Hubert also have equity stakes in the company and have signed long-term contracts to remain in their roles.
Through interviews with all those stakeholders, AMRA’s emerging growth strategy has three prongs. The first is to expand its list of publishing clients, looking for small, medium and large indie publishers.
At a faster and larger clip, AMRA also aims to exploit opportunities with other niche music genres in the Latin and African markets in a bid to replicate the success it had partnering with mood-music companies. It also aims to take on more clients on the “long-tail end of the business” — songwriters who may not be published or affiliated but have steady streaming income.
This last prong of the strategy reflects the influence of Francisco Partners. In the past two years or so, the firm has invested $2 billion in six music companies, five of which are geared toward music creators, ranging from audio production and DJ’ing software and hardware to a plugin platform with marketing, distribution and authorization services. Managed under the umbrella of SoundWide, Francisco Partners says these companies have a combined 7 million users.
“We have seen the marketplace has shifted and grown around the creator community,” Hubert says. “We have the capabilities from a scaling and tech stack perspective to go after that market.”
AMRA faces hurdles if it’s to maintain formidable growth. Tracking digital royalties is challenging, given metadata errors and fast-growing use cases. The association is also held back when it comes to nondigital royalties, where existing laws and collection societies prevent it from operating as swiftly or accurately as it can with digital revenue. Songwriters in particular are the most restricted: They can use AMRA to collect their digital performance and mechanical royalties, as well as offline royalties, but the offline royalties still pass through a traditional PRO before reaching AMRA, meaning the writer will be charged two fees: one from the traditional organization, then a “significantly lower” fee from AMRA. Also, although AMRA collects in 212 countries, two of the world’s most royalty-rich nations, China and the United States, are not part of their offering due to local laws.
Still, AMRA will bring all of its promised efficiencies to the digital side, which is what the company anticipates will far outweigh offline royalties soon. The company believes it to be uniquely positioned to collect those royalties. As it likes to say: “AMRA is a category of one.”
Maureen Loughran was named director/curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings — the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian — effective Monday (March 27). Loughran, who is currently senior producer of the nationally distributed public radio series American Routes, will also oversee the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. She succeeds Daniel Sheehy, the former director of Smithsonian Folkways, who had come out of retirement to serve as interim director for the past two years. Loughran can be reached at LoughranME@si.edu.
Better Noise Music promoted senior label manager Trish Sterling to vp of marketing; UK & Europe promotions manager Claudia Mancino to international director of press & promotion; senior vp of finance Harris Masood to CFO; and director of financial operations Chekesha McCalla to vp of finance. Also promoted was Dan Sears to director of production and Michael Filippone to finance manager. Additionally, the company hired Michael Lombardi as head of production and development; Paolo Bettaglio as senior director of digital marketing & audience growth; Elisa Nye — hired by Bettaglio — as senior manager of digital marketing & audience growth; Chandler Booth as marketing manager; and Liam Kay as production coordinator. Mancino can be reached at claudia@betternoise.com.
Kobalt named Lindsey Lanier as vp of creative and Desi O’Meara as director of creative. The Los Angeles-based Lanier most recently served as vp of A&R at Motown Records and the New York-based O’Meara was most recently director of A&R at Columbia Records.
Various Artists Management appointed Joe Etchells as head of A&R and artist development, effective April 2. Etchells will be based between the company’s London and Los Angeles offices, reporting to CEO David Bianchi and U.K. managing director John Dawkins. He will work across the company’s artist management, music publishing and label operations. Etchells joins from EMI, where he served as A&R director. He can be reached at joe@variousartistsmanagement.com.
Jon “Ando” Andolina launched The Francis June Group for management, bringing with him flagship client, Big Loud Records artist Larry Fleet (“Where I Find God”). Andolina was previously co-founder/partner at Good Company Entertainment alongside Jake Owen and Keith Gale. Andolina can be reached at ando@thefrancisjunegroup.com.
Jammcard — styled as a LinkedIn for the music industry — announced the launch of Jammcard Films. Filmmaker Jack Piatt, who was originally director of operations for Jammcard, will serve as president of the new division, while Caroline Hoste — a partner at Piatt’s Highway West Entertainment as well as a Jammcard advisor — will serve as vp. Meanwhile, Jammcard founder Elmo Lovano will fill the role of executive producer. Forthcoming Jammcard Film releases include the feature-length documentaries Immediate Family directed by Denny Tedesco and Trap Jazz directed by Sadé Clacken Joseph. Piatt can be reached at Jack@highwaywestent.com, Hoste can be reached at Caroline@highwaywestent.com and Lovano can be reached at elmo@jammcard.com.
On-air personality/podcaster/producer Ashley Eicher launched her own media company, AE Entertainment, which will provide story consulting, media coaching and content creation for clients. She can be reached at ashley@aeentertainment.co.
Nashville Notes:
International Bluegrass Music Association executive director Pat Morris resigned from his post effective March 24, allowing him to move out of state to address family medical issues. Former executive director Paul Schiminger will handle the role on an interim basis … T.J. Dula joined iHeartMedia/Raleigh-Durham, N.C., as senior vp of sales. She was previously Disney ABC Television Group digital sales director. The five-station Raleigh cluster includes country WNCB … Pandora senior director of country programming Johnny Chiang added SiriusXM country programming to his job description … Subscribe to our weekly Country Update newsletter for more Music City news.
Julie Adam was named executive vp/general manager at Universal Music Canada, where she will lead frontline operations, overseeing marketing, digital strategy, commercial affairs and brand partnership portfolios. Adam joins from Rogers Sports & Media, where she was most recently president of news & entertainment.
Alison Donald was promoted to head of global creative at Kobalt, where she will be based between London and Los Angeles. She previously oversaw A&R and creative in the U.K. and Europe for Kobalt Music Publishing as well as AWAL’s U.K. and Europe creative team prior to its sale.
Jennifer Blakeman joined Seeker Music as chief rights & royalties officer. She comes from boutique music publisher one77 Music, where she served as president/chief creative officer. In her new role, she will lead and oversee the expansion of Seeker’s rights management, administration and royalty platforms. Blakeman can be reached at blakeman@seekermusic.com.
Michael Allen was named vp of marketing strategy at Republic Records, where he will develop and execute campaigns for artists across pop and K-pop. The New York-based executive joined Republic in 2020 as a digital marketing consultant.
Gabe Fleet joined law firm Latham & Watkins as partner in the connectivity, privacy & information practice. Fleet, a prominent music licensing lawyer, joins from iHeartMedia, where he served as executive vp of business affairs and chief music licensing counsel. He anticipates being part of Latham’s New York office upon admission to the New York Bar; he is currently licensed to practice in Georgia and Alabama. He can be reached at Gabe.Fleet@lw.com.
Merlin announced several promotions. They include Ryan McWhinnie to vp of business and legal affairs, Shrina Patel to senior director of business and legal affairs, Chris Tarbet to senior director of commercial partnerships, Chaida Kapfunde to senior director of business and technology solutions, Pavan Vasdev to director of strategy & growth, Quentin Martins to senior manager of commercial partnerships and Grace Styles to senior finance assistant.
Big Machine Label Group promoted Courtney Daly, Bekah Digby and Marie Wapelhorst to director of streaming and Anna Scott Welch to manager of streaming. Sam Featherstone also joined the company as director of streaming; he was previously at Sony Music Entertainment, where he served as associate director of commercial partnerships. Daly can be reached at courtney.daly@bmlg.net, Digby can be reached at bekah.digby@bmlg.net, Featherstone can be reached at sam.featherstone@bmlg.net, Wapelhorst can be reached at marie.wapelhorst@bmlg.net and Scott Welch can be reached at annascott.welch@bmlg.net.
Red Street Records hired several new team members, including Brooklynn Gould-Bradbury as manager of publicity and communications, Dottie Chamberlain as executive assistant/operations manager and Riley Cooper as digital marketing coordinator. Gould-Bradbury joins from CMT and can be reached at brooklynn.g@redstreetrecords.com. Chamberlain joins from Universal Music Nashville, where she served as executive assistant to chairman/CEO Mike Dungan (for whom she worked for nearly three decades). She can be reached at Dottie.c@redstreetrecords.com. Cooper, who is coming off internships with companies including Sweet Talk Publicity and Triple 8 Management, can be reached at riley.c@redstreetrecords.com.
Universal Music Group senior vp of business and legal affairs Aaron Harrison was appointed to the SoundExchange board of directors; he replaces Sony Music’s Jeff Walker. Harrison also serves on the SoundExchange licensing committee.
Hannah Babitt, CEO/founder of Los Angeles-based boutique management company BABZ, announced the opening of BABZ Nashville. Babitt will oversee BABZ in both Los Angeles and Nashville, with Jacklyn Figueiredo and Eden Lytle based in Los Angeles.
Claudia Russo was named senior vp of corporate communications at UTA. She joins from Verizon Business Markets, where she served as head of communications. Beginning in the role immediately, she will relocate to Los Angeles from New York this summer.
Sweden-based label A-P Records rebranded to Overtone Studios and named producer/songwriter Rami Yacoub as director of music development, North America. Based in Los Angeles, he’ll help spearhead the company’s international expansion.
Adam Sachs was named senior vp of entertainment, comedy and podcasts programming at SiriusXM. The executive first joined the satellite broadcaster following its acquisition of Team Coco, where he served as president.
First Artists Management hired Zoe Hart as agent in its London office and promoted Hailey Flame to agent in Los Angeles. Hart, who joins from Faber Music, can be reached at ZHart@firstartistsmgmt.com. Flame can be reached at Hflame@firstartistsmgmt.com.
Nigel Elderton was named chairman at music technology company Audoo, which is focused on improving accuracy, transparency and reporting in public performance royalty data collection and payment distribution.
Uber Eats’ commercial featuring Diddy, Montell Jordan, “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?),” the guy who sings “What Is Love,” an oddly-timed haircut and two pineapples may be the first clue that Super Bowl ads are going lighter in 2023 — a pattern reflected in the music synchs for the big game.
After three years of the pandemic, Jordan’s 1995 smash “This Is How We Do It” and Kelis’ 2003 hit “Milkshake,” both Universal Music Publishing Group synchs used in the Uber Eats spot, represent a shift from apocalyptic and inspirational Super Bowl commercials and soundtracks starring old-timey crooners and string sections to familiar, upbeat hits and plentiful comedy.
“Humor remains the dominant theme this year,” says Tom Eaton, senior vp of music for advertising for UMPG, which represents the Jordan and Kelis tracks and suggested them to the brand’s music supervisors. “There have been a few sentimental commercials, but the vast majority have trended towards humor — and music can be such an important aspect of creating that mood.”
“I haven’t seen that heightened seriousness, which I think is a good thing,” adds Keith D’Arcy, senior vp of sync and creative services for Warner Chappell Music, whose synchs at this year’s Super Bowl include DMX‘s “What’s My Name,” for a Downy spot starring Danny McBride. “The country is in a good place where we’re more inclined to want to laugh and celebrate.”
That means lots of feel-good tracks, many of which were released in the ‘90s – from “What’s My Name” and “This is How We Do It” to a Clueless throwback ad for Rakuten starring Alicia Silverstone and Supergrass‘ 1995 U.K. hit “Alright.” The ’90s trend may have begun last year with Doja Cat‘s cover of Hole‘s “Celebrity Skin” for Taco Bell, says Rob Christensen, executive vp and head of global synch for Kobalt, whose lone synch this year is soul singer Lee Fields’ “Forever” for pet-food brand The Farmer’s Dog. “The ’90s are back,” he says. “That seems to be around pop culture everywhere right now.”
“It’s cyclical,” adds Scott Cresto, executive vp of synchronization and marketing for Reservoir Media, which has three synchs, including a Pringles spot with Meghan Trainor singing Tina Turner‘s “The Best.” “Most folks’ favorite music is from [ages] 13 to 30. They’re down the line in their careers and making the decisions and picking their favorite songs.”
Although not all final synch tallies for nationally televised spots were available at press time — publishing execs say permissions and requests for songs were unusually late this year, including a rush job that came in from an agency this past Monday — Sony Music Publishing (SMP) scored the most with 15, UMPG had seven, Warner Chappell Music had six or seven, BMG landed five, Primary Wave and Reservoir had three apiece and Kobalt had one.
Despite inflation, layoffs, high interest rates and sporadic recession talk, synch rates were stable this year, according to publishers. “It’s in line with past Super Bowl campaigns,” says Marty Silverstone, partner/senior vp creative/head of synch for Primary Wave, whose synchs include Missy Elliott‘s “We Run This” for Google Pixel. Adds Dan Rosenbaum, vp of licensing and advertising, for BMG, whose synchs include Supergrass’ “Alright” and co-writes for Turner’s “The Best” and Elliott’s “We Run This”: “Recognizability is so important in commercial usage. If that song is going to work for them, they’ll pay the price.”
Super Bowl LVII is the first since Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” landed on Stranger Things in May 2022, became a No. 1 hit and unexpectedly dominated the synch business. Do publishers believe the big game, for which 30-second ads cost a reported $7 million, will have a similar impact for their songs? Yes and no.
“That Kate Bush song wasn’t well-known and the show blew it up. On the Super Bowl, they play it a little more safe by using more tried-and-true hits,” says Brian Monaco, president/global chief marketing officer for SMP, which represents Len‘s “Steal My Sunshine” (for a Sam Adams spot), Sarah McLachlan‘s “Angel” (Busch) and Olivia Rodrigo‘s “Good 4 U” (Pepsi). “On a TV show, it’s a little easier, because the fees are lower. If it doesn’t work, you’re on to the next one.”
Despite SMP’s success at landing Super Bowl synchs this year, Monaco’s staff was unable to successfully pitch one key artist: Bruce Springsteen, who sold his music rights to the company for a reported $550 million in 2021. “It just didn’t fit,” he says, while noting that even for a superstar like Springsteen, getting a Super Bowl synch is a coveted career highlight: “Everyone’s hope — every writer, every artist — is the Super Bowl platform. We need more big events like this to get more music played.”
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