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Another day, another flood of music industry deals. How does one keep track? In an effort to provide an overview of the latest acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, licensing agreements and more, Billboard publishes a list of all of the latest pacts that have hit our radar every other Thursday.
Intellectual property rights management company GoDigital announced financing of $230 million from Bank of America, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, East West Bank, First Horizon, Fifth Third and Flag Star, bringing the company’s capital raised to date to more than $1 billion. The announcement coincides with the rebranding of GoDigital from GoDigital Media Group to three distinct divisions: GoDigital Music, Networks and Brands. Additionally, the company’s Cinq Music is currently undergoing a rebrand that will include a new name. GoDigital will also develop “multiple other genre-specific imprints,” according to a press release.
According to GoDigital, its music division has a catalog of more than 80,000 assets, including those of record label Beluga Heights, which boasts catalogs including Jason Derulo, T.I., Daddy Yankee and producer-songwriters José Ángel Hernández (aka Flow La Movie) and Jimmy Robbins (who recently contributed to Morgan Wallen‘s I’m the Problem album).
“GoDigital is a powerful brand because its vision and purpose are anchored in inspiring happiness by sharing creativity,” said Jason Peterson, chairman & CEO of GoDigital, in a statement. “This financing, led by Bank of America, further validates GoDigital Music’s strategy of focusing on durable culturally significant artists and repertoire from large and fast growing markets around the world.”
See below for the rest of the latest music industry deals.
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Primary Wave Music/Phil Lynott Estate
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}Primary Wave Music partnered with the estate of Thin Lizzy co-founder and songwriter Phil Lynott. Under the deal, Primary Wave will offer marketing support across Lynott’s catalog, including all songs he wrote over the course of his career as well as his recording interests, including his work with Thin Lizzy, solo work and collaborations with other artists. The Lynott estate will have access to Primary Wave’s licensing/sync, content and branding teams. Lynott wrote such Thin Lizzy classics as “The Boys Are Back In Town” and “Dancing in the Moonlight.”
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VENU Holding Corporation/Primary Wave Music
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}VENU Holding Corporation struck a partnership with Primary Wave Music to bring “artist-inspired experiences” to VENU’s network of venues in the U.S. Primary Wave is home to artists and artist estates including Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston and James Brown. According to a press release, VENU has three new outdoor amphitheaters set to open in 2026 and plans to scale to 40 total locations by 2030.
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bemyfriends/Dreamus Company
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}Bemyfriends, which operates the global fandom platform b.stage, signed a share purchase agreement to acquire Dreamus Company. Through the deal, bemyfriends will integrate Dreamus’ music streaming platform FLO with b.stage. “Specifically, bemyfriends plans to strengthen synergies for fandom business expansion based on Dreamus Company’s music distribution, production, and concert infrastructure,” according to a press release. “Furthermore, the company plans to build innovative services enabling one-stop access from music listening to fan communication, merchandise purchases, and concert bookings by integrating b.stage’s core features — 1:1 fan-artist communication, community, membership, and merchandise commerce — with FLO.” The release notes that bemyfriends has built more than 300 fan platforms across K-pop, esports and more, including the upcoming official fan community for the Netflix blockbuster KPop Demon Hunters. Bemyfriends completed the Dreamus acquisition via a partnership with Korean private equity firm Midas.
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Too Lost/Xposure Music
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}Music distribution and publishing platform Too Lost and music financing company Xposure Music formed a commercial partnership aimed at acquiring and distributing music catalogs. Under the terms of the deal, Too Lost will distribute and co-fund catalog acquisitions sourced and underwritten by Xposure, which “plans to deploy tens of millions of dollars in upcoming catalog acquisitions,” according to a press release. The release adds that the partnership has “already deployed millions of dollars” across multiple deals, including catalogs from indie creators such as Tskinz, Fukkit, Fly Rich Double, FLVME and Secret!.
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un:hurd music Funding Round
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}Un:hurd music, the music marketing platform that caters to independent artists, completed a funding round through which it saw reinvestment from Kobalt Music founder and chairman Willard Ahdritz, Trapital’s Dan Runcie, Hazel Savage and Leansquare VC. New investors include Mindset Ventures Music Tech. According to a press release, un:hurd now boasts more than 185,000 users globally.
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Virgin Music Group/GR6
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}Virgin Music Group extended its partnership with Brazilian indie label GR6 (Perera DJ, Nilo, MC PH and DJay W) “well into the next decade,” according to a press release. GR6 has been with Virgin since 2020.
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Warner Music Live/Nelonen Media Live
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}Warner Music Live, a division of Warner Music Finland, and Finland-based festival producer Nelonen Media Live signed a deal through which Warner Music Live will handle program planning, artist acquisitions and contract negotiations for Nelonen Media Live’s festivals. The two companies will also co-produce major standalone concerts.
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Downtown Artist & Label Services/Polaris Records/Enarma Records
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}Downtown Artist & Label Services renewed deals in the Brazilian phonk and electronic funk genres with two companies: U.K.-based Polaris Records and Australia-based Enarma Records.
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MNGRS.AI Funding Round
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}MNGRS.AI, an AI-powered artist management service launched by French startup Global Music Community, raised $1 million from investors including French soccer players Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid), Jules Koundé (FC Barcelona) and Mike Maignan (AC Milan). MNGRS.AI was founded by former MIDEM and Universal Music executives Alexandre Denote and Thomas Quenoil.
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Proper Music Distribution/Hospital Records/Heavenly Recordings
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}U.K. physical distributor Proper Music Distribution struck new fulfillment partnerships with Hospital Records and Heavenly Recordings. According to a press release, Proper will use its “flexible IT infrastructure to facilitate Official Charts Company (OCC) eligibility” and fulfillment “for all physical music sales via Bandcamp” for the two indie labels, as well as Hospital’s own online store.
