The recorded music assets of the $uicideBoy$, the rap duo from New Orleans that has evolved into an indie powerhouse with its own label, a touring brand and a mega-merch business, are up for sale, sources tell Billboard. The properties on the block consist of the group’s recorded music masters and its music publishing catalog, those people say.
The deal is being shopped by Tim Mandelbaum, a partner with the law firm Fox Rothschild, who reached out to potential key strategic buyers including the majors and some financial music asset buyers. While some sources indicate the masters and publishing assets are being shopped together, others indicate that some potential suitors have bid solely on the publishing.
Sources say the asking price for the duo’s masters — including a go-forward deal covering an unknown number of future releases — is above $300 million alone, while it’s unclear what the asking price is on the publishing; the duo’s blockbuster merch business is not part of the proposed transaction. In addition, some sources say the duo’s G*59 label, which has a roster that includes releases by Night Lovell, Ramirez, Germ, Shakewell and Chetta — who combined for 450,000 album consumption units in the U.S. in 2024 — is not up for sale, though others disagree.
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The cult hip-hop act has averaged an impressive 2.4 million album consumption units in the U.S. and 4.6 billion global streams annually over the last three years, even though their songs have rarely charted. Nevertheless, they’ve landed four songs on the Hot 100 — “Us Vs. Them” (No. 96), “Thorns” (No. 91), “Burgundy” (No. 86) and “The Thing Grey Line” (No. 71), all of which hit the chart in 2024 — and four of their seven albums have reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200. The group’s most-streamed songs include “Kill Yourself Pt. III” with nearly 708 million streams; “And to Those I Love, Thanks for Sticking Around,” with nearly 675 million streams; and “Paris,” with about 526 million streams.
According to Luminate, since the rap duo began their career, their masters have accumulated 11.21 million album consumption units, including 15.7 billion on-demand streams — and that’s just in the U.S. What’s more, the duo’s U.S. popularity has been picking up steam: the catalog generated 842,000 album consumption units in 2020, growing to 1.22 million in 2021, then to 1.93 million in 2022, 2.46 million in 2023 and 2.71 million last year, according to Luminate. So far this year, $uicideBoy$ has already garnered 325,000 album consumption units, including 439 million on-demand streams.
However, unlike many other huge recording acts, $uicideBoy$’s popularity mainly is in the United States. Over the last three years, the U.S. market annually accounts for about 70% of the catalog’s streams and almost 83% of its song downloads. On the other hand, that could translate into more upside for potential sales and streaming activity going forward, if a concentrated effort is made on establishing the brand globally.
But even with the group’s already impressive numbers and further potential for increased sales and streaming activity abroad, the price tag that sources say the catalog fetched also comes with some peril. That’s because streaming activity is still spiking and decay hasn’t yet set in, meaning there’s no telling where the group’s catalog activity will level out in the future. But the going-forward component of the deal provides financial safety rails for the acquirers, especially if that is structured as a joint venture.
Billboard estimates that the $uicideBoy$ catalog averaged almost $24 million in revenue annually over the last three years. After paying out for cost of goods including distribution and publishing, Billboard estimates that net label share is about $20 million.
On the publishing side, Billboard estimates the duo’s masters generated about $6.5 million in royalties annually over the past three years, with the two members serving as the sole co-writers on the vast majority of their songs. It’s unclear if all the publishing is up for sale, or the amount of publishing advances already paid out, but not recouped; either could impact the valuation.
Between the master recordings and the publishing, the combined net label/net publisher share (or gross profit) could be in the $24 million to $26 million range, Billboard estimates, depending on how much unrecouped publishing advances play into the deal. Applied against a potential blended 16 times multiple, the combined assets could be worth as much as $400 million. But that might be an over-valuation considering the catalog’s activity is still on the rise; most sources say the combined assets are likely to wind up bringing in upwards of $300 million if a deal is finally completed.
Currently, the catalog resides at The Orchard, the Sony Music company that signed the band and its label G*59 to a distribution deal in 2021. Prior to that, the band and the label had been with Virgin Music, a distributor in the UMG portfolio. It’s expected that the $uicideBoy$ catalog will move in the event of an acquisition.
As of press time, reps for UMG, a lawyer for $uicideBoy$ and The Orchard either declined to comment or had not responded to requests for comment.
