Publishing
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The arbitration process governing SESAC’s performance license rates has determined that for the 2023-2026 licensing period, a blanket fee of 0.2824% of revenue — or a 10.4% increase from the prior period’s rate of 0.2557% of revenue — will be set, according to a press release from the Radio Music License Committee (RLMC).
The rate represents the amount SESAC, a performing rights organization (PRO), can charge stations in exchange for playing works from their repertory over terrestrial radio.
Each side characterized the final rate determination differently, with the RLMC claiming victory because the arbitration panel rejected SESAC’s efforts to more than double the rate, and also substantially expand the license revenue base. But SESAC says the arbitration award reflects a failure by the RLMC in its attempt to lower the rate.
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The rate decision is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2023, which means that stations paying the SESAC interim licensing fee at 2022 rates will receive “a modest true-up adjustment.” The arbitration process governing SESAC’s rates came about as a result of a 2015 RMLC antitrust litigation settlement with SESAC that set forth a rate arbitration process for the next 20 years.
The RMLC announcement claims SESAC sought to justify its efforts to increase rates and expand the licensing revenue base by relying upon rates set for other music licensors.
Meanwhile, SESAC’s statement on the determination says the RMLC failed in its attempt to tie SESAC’s rates to those of BMI and ASCAP, the two U.S. PROs, which operate under consent decrees that mandate a rate trial in the Southern District of New York when negotiations fail.
“Despite the fact that no increase was warranted, the arbitration decision reported here constitutes a significant victory for RMLC-represented radio stations given SESAC’s demands, and comes at a challenging economic time for the industry,” RMLC chairman Ed Atsinger said in a statement. “The RMLC intends to continue to defend and protect the interests of its members at a time when all of the performing right organizations are seeking to aggressively increase their fees.”
In another aspect of the rate determination, the RLMC said that “long-form license terms are still being worked out but it is expected that the non-music format stations will continue to pay the same 77.5% discount” off of the above music stations’ headline rate. Mathematically speaking, that means the RMLC expects that the non-music rate fee will be set at 0.06354% of revenue, or a 10.5% increase from the prior rate of 0.0575%, Billboard estimates.
“The arbitration award reflects another failure of the RMLC to impose regulated rates on SESAC since SESAC and the RMLC concluded their settlement in 2015,” SESAC performing rights president and CEO Scott Jungmichel said in a statement. “The panel awarded SESAC an over 10% increase while rejecting the RMLC’s attempts to lower the rate, turn back the clock, and yoke SESAC to the regulated rates paid by ASCAP and BMI. In addition, the revenue base subject to the fee is significantly greater than the revenue upon which station groups had sought to pay under the 2017 award.”
Nile Rodgers was unanimously re-elected to serve a third term as chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame at its annual board of directors meeting held in New York City on Oct. 15. In a key change, the chairman, officers and board of directors will all serve terms of five years, up from the original three-year terms.
Rodgers, a four-time Grammy winner, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 (in the musical excellence category) and received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2023.
“Having Nile as a partner has been a very special and rewarding experience for me personally and professionally,” Linda Moran, SHOF president/CEO, said in a statement. “Nile is one of the rare ones who is respected and admired by his peers and his fans of all generations for being a musical pioneer with his multi-cross-genre music. With an ever-expanding list of credits and accomplishments and, more importantly, his eloquence in talking about and especially his love of songwriting and its process makes Nile the ideal voice for the songwriting community to the world at large as Chairman of the SHOF.”
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“Serving as the Chair of The Songwriters Hall of Fame has been one of the highest points of my career,” Rodgers said in a statement. “To be re-elected to serve another term makes me prouder than I could have ever imagined. This distinguished organization is one of the most brilliantly responsible groups I’ve ever had the pleasure to just sit amongst. Songwriters are the pillar of the music industry, and we recognize and celebrate these great creators. For this honor I’m beyond elated.”
Re-elected officers with Moran include CFO and treasurer Tom Kelly and senior vps David Israelite, Elizabeth Matthews and Mike O’Neill, secretary Mary Jo Mennella and deputy secretary Linda Buckley.
Elected members to the board of directors are SHOF inductees Desmond Child, Steve Dorff and Paul Williams, 2012 Hal David Starlight Award recipient Schaffer “Ne-Yo” Smith, Martin N. Bandier, Donna Caseine, Samantha Cox, Charlie Feldman, Fletcher Foster, Pete Ganbarg, Randy Grimmett, John H. Josephson, Jody H. Klein, Evan Lamberg, Carianne Marshall, Nancy Munoz, Jon Platt, Irwin Z. Robinson, Harold Stephan, Bob Valentine and John Titta. Barry Slotnick will continue as counsel.
Reservoir Media raised its outlook for the coming year and delivered mid-single-digit growth thanks to strong gains in digital and synchronization revenues.
The New York-based company’s revenue increased 6% to $40.7 million in the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30, the company announced Wednesday (organic growth that excludes the impact of acquisitions was 5%). Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climbed 11% to $17.6 million.
Music publishing revenue jumped 10% to $28.6 million due mainly to catalog acquisitions and price increases at digital streaming services. Digital revenue grew 22% to $15.6 million and synchronization royalties increased 30% to $5.8 million as film and TV licensing is “getting back to pre-strike levels,” said CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi during Wednesday’s earnings call. Performance revenue fell 22% to $5.1 million, due to “the timing of hits songs,” the company said. Mechanical royalties dropped 13% to $1.1 million.
Recorded music revenue fell 1% to $10.7 million. Reservoir attributed the year-over-year decline to the reissue of rap icons De La Soul’s physical catalog in the prior-year period. Recorded music physical revenue sank 21% to $1.5 million. Digital revenue fell 0.1% to $7.2 million. Neighboring rights revenue jumped 35% to $1.1 million and synchronization royalties rose 3% to $900,000.
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Last quarter, Reservoir licensed of Snoop Dogg’s publishing catalog and Snoop-owned Death Row Records, and signed deals with Canadian singer-songwriter k.d. lang, country writer-producer Travis Heidelman, songwriter Jon Decious, writer-producer Kes Kamara and writer-producer Ben Stancombe. The company also purchased the publishing catalog of Billy Strange (“A Little Less Conversation,” “Clean Up Your Own Backyard”) and acquired the royalties of Jack Douglas, who produced hits for such artists as Aerosmith and Cheap Trick.
“As we look forward to the second half of fiscal 2025 our pipeline continues to remain strong, with over $1 billion in transactions under consideration at attractive entry multiples,” said Khosrowshahi. Reservoir is looking at opportunities with “better multiples,” she added, “but I still continue to see a substantial number of transactions trading at high-teen multiples. And I think the long-term value of these assets is recognized, thus warranting these multiples.”
Reservoir slightly increased guidance for the full fiscal year. Revenue to a range of $150-153 million (from $148-152 million) and adjusted EBITDA to $59-$62 million (from $58-61 million).
Shares of Reservoir Media were up 0.3% to $8.81 by midday after jumping as high as $9.09, just shy of the stock’s 52-week high of $9.20.
Fiscal first quarter of 2025 financial metrics for Reservoir:
Revenue: up 6% to $40.7 million
Adjusted EBITDA: up 11% to $17.6 million
Net income: down 78% to $200,000
Publishing revenue: up 10% to $28.6 million
Recorded music revenue: down 1% to $10.7 million
As Billboard reported Thursday (Oct. 24), global royalty collections rose 7.6% to a new high of 11.75 billion euros ($10.9 billion, based on the average exchange rate for 2023), according to the Paris-based trade organization CISAC (the Confédération Internationale des Sociétés d´Auteurs et Compositeurs). That article covers the basic news — digital collections grew 9.6% to 4.52 billion euros ($4.18 billion); radio and television collections declined 5.3% to 3.37 billion euros ($3.11 billion) after a significant jump the previous year; and live and background music collections grew 21.8% to 3.06 billion euros ($2.82 billion), fueled mostly by a resurgent concert business. There’s more detail in the news article.
Now let’s take a longer-term look at the state of the market to see where all the recent growth has come from and what that implies about the future. Since 2019, the music collections business has grown from 8.92 billion euros ($8.24 million) to 11.75 billion euros ($10.9 billion), an increase of 31.7% over five years, which is annualized growth of more than 6%. That arguably presents a more accurate picture of market trends than year-by-year changes from this period, since the concert business was so disrupted by the pandemic.
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Most of that growth came from digital, which grew 119% — from 2.06 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in 2019 to 4.52 billion euros ($4.2 billion) last year. Perhaps more important, the 2.46 billion euros ($2.27 billion) of digital growth represents almost all the growth in the business during that time. And that growth is starting to slow. In 2023, digital growth slowed from 35.1% to 9.6%, which contributed to an overall slowing of growth from 29% to 7.6%. Some of that is inevitable — subscription streaming growth has leveled off in the U.S. and Western Europe, the biggest markets that traditionally drive the business. Together, the U.S., Western Europe and Canada account for almost 75% of collections revenue. Digital revenue will almost certainly keep growing — from price increases and new products, among other factors, but the wonder years of digital growth may be in the past.
The state of global royalty collections offers other reasons for optimism, though. First, a caveat: These numbers don’t provide a perfect picture of the music publishing business, or even public performance royalties, since some digital royalties are paid through direct deals. These numbers represent the best global picture of the collecting business available, though, and it seems safe to say that the direct deals, for which numbers aren’t available, roughly follow these trends. This almost certainly understates the growth of the music publishing business, though, since it doesn’t include U.S. mechanical publishing royalties, any synch rights and a variety of new kinds of deals.
The challenge for collecting societies is that the second largest source of revenue, from TV and radio play for compositions, does not seem to be growing. It was 3.4 billion euros ($3.14 billion) in 2019 and it’s now 3.37 billion euros ($3.11 billion) — a more significant decline than it seems, given inflation. Since this revenue is tied to TV and radio businesses in most markets, some of it seems to have gone to digital, which has replaced it as the most important source of revenue.
There’s more hope in the live business. The disruption of the pandemic made this hard to see, but live and background music royalties are growing steadily — from 2.71 billion euros ($2.5 billion) in 2019 to 3.06 billion euros ($2.83 billion) last year — a rise of 12.7%. That’s not so big, divided over five years, but live is growing faster than the rest of the category, and growth in ticket prices for the biggest tours will result in more royalty revenue in territories where that’s linked to ticket prices. That trend is expected to continue, too. That could make live music an important source of growth in both established markets and new ones.
Right now, the collecting society revenue breaks down as follows: 38.5% of money comes from digital; 28.7% from TV and radio; 26.1% from live and background music; 3.2% from CD and video sales; 2.4% from private copy levies (which the U.S. does not have); and 1.1% from other sources. How might that look five years from now? It’s hard to imagine digital climbing above half since that would imply a significant decline for TV and radio revenue. Live royalties should climb, maybe significantly, and background music revenue could climb in some markets, although it’s not likely to grow so much in the U.S. and Western Europe.
The origins of collections revenue will also change: There’s also really impressive growth coming from parts of the world that barely generated much revenue five years ago. Collections in Latin America rose 26.2% last year but 108.2% over the last two years, driven by Mexico and Brazil and the spread of streaming throughout Latin America. Right now, that impressive growth doesn’t change the overall picture much — the region still only accounts for 5.9% of collections revenue. But if that growth pattern continues, the market could become significant soon. Over the last five years, Latin America collections went from 4.1% of the global total to the aforementioned 5.9% share.
The same goes for some markets in Asia. Overall, there’s not much growth there — it’s down 0.3% because of Japanese currency fluctuations but up 6.8% on a constant currency basis. But Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, where between 80% and 85% of collections revenue comes from digital, are up 270.4%, 111.6% and 325.8%, respectively, over the last five years. Those increases aren’t big enough in revenue terms to lift the overall business, but they’re growing fast enough that they could make a difference five years from now. Africa, hailed as having so much potential, seems to be stuck: It went from accounting for .7% of global music collections to .6%. That won’t matter much to overall revenue anytime soon. But it shows how the music business still faces serious challenges in Africa, as well as how those challenges impact real, working creators. These problems are complicated, but they are also urgent: Creators in Africa deserve better.
Growth is continuing in bigger markets, however; the top 10 markets grew 6.3% last year. Over the past five years, the U.S. and Canada grew 44.4% and 38.9% respectively, with the U.K., France and Germany up 44.5%, 34.7% and 20.2%. The strongest growth over that time took place in Korea, up 70.9%. The health and stability of the larger markets should make it easier for the fast-growing smaller ones to improve the entire business.
Warner Chappell Music‘s Latin division has signed urbano music producer Jorge Milliano. A trusted collaborator for superstars like Peso Pluma, Myke Towers, Anitta, The Chainsmokers, Maluma, Manuel Turizo, Marshmello and Nicky Jam, Milliano is one of the top producers working in Latin music today.
Concord Music Publishing has announced the signing of poet, singer, songwriter and producer Kara Jackson. Signed in collaboration with Ark Publishing, a joint venture founded by Grammy-winning producer and songwriter, Noah Goldstein, the worldwide publishing deal includes Jackson’s catalog and all future works.
The Circuit Group has partnered with Kobalt globally for publishing administration. The Circuit Group was founded by Dean and Jessica Wilson, Brett Fischer, David Gray and Harvey Tadman with the aim to acquire ownership in artists’ IP portfolios and partner with them to build new monetization opportunities.
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U.K. music supervision company 45RPM has launched a new music publishing arm with the support of Universal Music Publishing Group, which will administer the new publishing outfit. Founded in 2022 by top music supervisors Iain Cooke, Sarah Bridge, Catherine Grieves and Nick Angel, 45RPM offers a full service experience for clients, including soundtrack development, composer partnerships, rights negotiation, budget management and on-camera music supervision.
Spirit Music Group has joined a creative joint venture with Grammy-winner Autumn Rowe to form Rowe’s Honest Songs Music & Lyrics. A singer, songwriter and producer, Rowe has worked with Jon Batiste, Dua Lipa, Diana Ross, Pitbull, Zendaya, Ava Max, FKA Twigs and Leona Lewis, as well as released songs in her own right. When she’s not in sessions, Rowe sits on the board of Songwriters of North America (SONA) where she advocates for songwriter’s rights.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville today announced the signing of acclaimed songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Elysse Yulo. News of the deal comes just months after working with Lana Del Rey and Quavo on their song “Tough.” Along with her work with Del Rey and Quavo, Elysse has also worked with Nashville talents like Zach John King, and Maddox Batson.
EJ Pasin has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Position Music. He is perhaps best known for producing the beat and guitar of the viral hit “Embrace It” by Ndorz, but the songwriter/producer has also released his own work via the names EJ Pasin and ptasinski (his side project). He is managed by Ewan Jenkins and Jack Mangan of E2J Management.
Warner Chappell Music (WCM) and Grammy-nominated duo, The Warren Brothers, have jointly signed a publishing deal with emerging country singer-songwriter Preston Cooper. An Ohio native, Cooper is currently one of the special guests on Riley Green’s ‘Damn Country Music’ Tour. He also has new music dropping in early 2025.
Jonathan Tester has launched Groove Bound Songs, a new independent publishing company, created via a joint venture with Bucks Music Group. As part of their agreement, Groove Bound Songs, founded by Bucks longtime Head of Sync, will benefit from Bucks’ leading back end administration, creative A&R, sync services and general expertise under the JV.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville has announced a new partnership with One4 Entertainment’s Brian Wright to sign breakthrough singer-songwriter Sadie Bass to a global publishing deal.
Longtime songwriter advocate John Titta, who served as executive vp/chief creative officer at ASCAP, died Monday (Oct. 21) after a two-year battle with cancer. His age is unknown.
“All of us at ASCAP are heartbroken,” said ASCAP president/chairman and songwriter Paul Williams in a statement. “John Titta was one of a kind, and truly one of the most beloved music industry executives I have known, with deep ties to songwriters across genres and generations. John — you had a song in your heart always, and you will always be in our hearts. I miss you already.”
ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews added, “John Titta’s warmth, his humor, his kindness, his love of family, and his passion for music were infectious. He was a north star for me personally, and for all of us at ASCAP. John was instrumental in the success of so many songwriters throughout his storied career, and he shared his love of music and songwriters so freely that we all felt the joy. All of us in the ASCAP family are devastated by his passing. Titta — we love you.”
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The lifelong Staten Island resident started as a musician, songwriter and music teacher before joining Screen Gems/EMI music as a manager, signing such acts as The Smithereens and working with the legendary Carole King and Lou Reed. He then moved to PolyGram Music Publishing, where, as vp of A&R, he signed Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Pearl Jam, Brian McKnight, k.d. lang, Billy Ray Cyrus and songwriter Jimmy Webb, among others. Before joining ASCAP in 2013, where he led the membership team, he also had stints at Warner Chappell Music as senior vp/GM, where he worked with Missy Elliott, Shaggy, Bruce Hornsby, Kid Rock and many others, as well as running his own independent music publishing company and label, MPCA Music Publishing and Recordings.
He kept his creative side alive by playing on albums by Ringo Starr, Michael McDonald, Sambora and others, as well as producing and A&R’ing albums by Dionne Warwick, Todd Rundgren, Donny & Marie Osmond and others.
Tributes to Titta came pouring in on social media from top songwriters. “There’s a giant hole in the hearts of all of us who loved John Titta today. Such a huge loss,” wrote Diane Warren on Facebook. “John loved songwriters. And we loved him. Rest in Power my dear friend. There’s some pretty great songwriters up there waiting to give you a big hug.”
Sam Hollander also expressed his appreciation, writing on Facebook, “John was one of the genuinely good guys in this layered industry—a real advocate for songwriters & artists back when music was more than just algorithms. If he believed in you, he fought for you, no matter your place in the proverbial pecking order. I was blessed to have him in my corner & share decades of incredible hangs—he was just a sweet, funny, generous soul who made you feel heard.”
Titta was also a Songwriters Hall of Fame board member. “The quintessential New York Italian, John loved his family, friends — especially those who became family, music, songwriters, artists, creative talent, The Godfather films, Staten Island and life itself. He was extremely proud of being a SHOF Board member, thought of it as ‘the feather in his cap’ and was one of our most active and dedicated board members,” says Linda Moran, president/CEO of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, via email. “Even when going through personal hardships and heartaches, he always had a smile on his face and a kind word to say, so that you would never know what he was experiencing.”
Fellow board member and Universal Music Publishing Group North America president Evan Lamberg tells Billboard, “John’s love of people, artists and songwriters is unmatched. The way he cared for his friends, of which he had many, was all heart. He made a big positive difference in so many lives and we will all miss him dearly.”
Titta seemed impossibly connected to a wide swath of the entertainment community. When a luminary would die, most recently songwriters JD Souther and Kris Kristofferson and comedian Bob Newhart, he would endearingly post a photo of himself with the deceased and share a warm, personal memory on social media.
Survivors include his wife Lana, sons Alex and Julian, daughter Martine, grandson Mason, and his brother Michael. The family is planning a private service to be followed by a memorial at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the John and Rose Titta Fund, set up by Titta in memory of his parents to help children on the autism spectrum through music programs. Donations can be made through the ASCAP Foundation.
Indie music giant Concord said on Friday it has acquired parts of the music publishing and recorded music catalog of reggaetón superstar Daddy Yankee.
The deal encompasses certain rights to Daddy Yankee songs including “Con Calma,” his rights as a featured artist on “Despacito” and “Gasolina,” whose “unforgettable hook” and “revolutionary” beat landed it in Billboard’s Top 50 Latin songs of all time. The deal also includes certain name, image and likeness rights, according to a press release from Concord.
Concord declined to comment on price. However, earlier this month in a KBRA report about Concord’s asset backed security, the bond rating agency wrote that Concord acquired the catalog of “a highly successful Latin Music artist and songwriter” in 2024 and that those works were valued at $217.3 million.
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How much does Daddy Yankee stand to benefit from the deal? The Latin hitmaker, whose Barrio Fino was the first reggaetón album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart in 2004, sold this portion of his catalog several years ago to a fund that asked not to be named. That fund sold the assets to Concord, so the artist will not get a cut of this sale of his works.
But Billboard reported in July that Daddy Yankee still owns part of his publishing catalog, which is administered worldwide by Sony Music Publishing and partly by Spirit Music in the United States. From 2021 to 2023, Daddy Yankee’s works averaged 375,333 album consumption units, with 346,000 album consumption units so far this year, according to Luminate.
CRAZY FOR CATALOGS
Catalogs are an important revenue driver for Concord, and the company’s CEO Bob Valentine said this week that through various marketing, distribution, film and commercial licensing agreements, the company regularly generates 5-15% more revenue from the assets it acquires than the prior owner.
“We can then create value for the artist, for our shareholders, for our debt holders, for our pension holders—all the people who are somehow invested in that effort,” Valentine said, speaking at the Mondo.NYC conference in Brooklyn. “The two things we talk about [with artists] is how are we going to protect your legacy and how are we going to make it live.”
Concord’s ownership — the Michigan State Retirement Systems own 93% — and how it has recently financed acquisitions, through asset backed securities, make it a uniquely long-term focused catalog acquirer that aims to hold these assets for 30-40 years.
The company also employs around 750 people worldwide, and it operates a label, music publishing division and one of the most significant theatrical companies with the catalogs of Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, and more.
However in some circles, Concord is better known for the 1.3 million songs it has acquired, including some of its biggest money-making assets like John Fogerty’s Credence Clearwater Revival publishing catalog and Phil Collins’ rights to Genesis songs.
Speaking at the Mondo.NYC conference, Concord described these works “as music and genres that fit so perfectly with an era that to own them … means you own that segment of someone’s nostalgia.” Anyone who ever makes a movie about the Vietnam War will likely call Concord to license CCR’s songs, Valentine says.
But Concord also owns the Latin label Fania Records and Mexican record label Musart Records, and several of the Latin artists it represents through its publishing division were nominated for Latin Grammy’s this year: Daymé Arocena’s nomination for Song of the Year for “A Fuego Lento,” writers Julian Bernal and Sammy Soso’s nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album for Orquídeas performed by Kali Uchis, and Camilo Lara’s nomination for Best Cumbia/Vallenato Album for Se Agradece performed by Los Ángeles Azules.
CALL HIM DADDY
Daddy Yankee’s catalog will be managed out of Concord’s recently expanded Miami office, the company said.
“Since he burst onto the scene, Daddy Yankee has been at the forefront of not only reggaeton, but pop music generally,” Valentine said in a statement. “We were incredibly excited by this opportunity to work alongside Daddy Yankee to continue building on his remarkable legacy and significance. His real and lasting cultural impact is clear, and Concord is thrilled to be a part of his story.”
Concord financed the acquisition of Daddy Yankee’s works by issuing a third round of asset backed security notes that were priced this week that bring its total ABS to $2.6 billion. Daddy Yankee’s catalog will be contributed to the ABS’s collateral pool, according to the KBRA report. Concord has used previous ABS notes to acquire Round Hill Music Royalty Fund in 2023 and Mojo Music and Media in 2022.
This type of financing makes sense for Concord because of its scale — which exceeds most banks’ normal financing abilities — and because it affords them a fixed, low interest rate.
“The benefit of an ABS market is we take out a loan and the interest rate is fixed for 5 years,” Valentine said. “It doesn’t change. Suddenly you’re financing with these fixed rates of return that are lower because of our scale and that changes the dynamic of the valuation pretty dramatically.”
This is part of a new column Billboard is launching in which we will unpack one financial issue a week for an artist in the news. Thanks for reading, and if you have suggestions or tips, email me at ediltsmarshall@billboard.com.
Warner Chappell Music and Giant Music Publishing have signed Jiggi to a joint publishing deal. He is best known as co-writer on Cash Cobain, Bay Swag and Ice Spice‘s “Fisherrr,” which has already generated 418,000 song consumption equivalents since its April release, as well as B Lovee and Cash Cobain’s “All Alone.” Giant Music had […]
A big year for k.d. lang is getting even bigger.
After celebrating her legacy with an induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and a reunion with her original band The Reclines for the first time in decades, the celebrated Canadian singer has inked a new publishing deal with Reservoir Media. The deal includes her future works and partial catalogue.
“It is an absolute thrill to partner with Reservoir!” says lang in a statement. “Golnar [Khosrowshahi] is a force of nature and understands me as an artist. I am deeply inspired and have utmost confidence in this creative partnership.”
Golnar Khosrowshahi, the founder and CEO of Reservoir (and one of the leaders on Billboard Canada‘s 2024 Power Players list), is Canadian herself and understands the iconic status k.d. lang holds in the country and beyond.
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“As a Canadian, I am particularly proud to be working with k.d. and her manager, Steve Jensen, and I’d also like to thank Bruce Roberts, our very first Reservoir songwriter, who introduced us to k.d,” she says.
Golnar Khosrowshahi, k.d lang & Rell Lafargue
Reservoir
Already revered as a queer pioneer within country music and a collaborator to musical legends including Tony Bennett, Roy Orbison, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt and Loretta Lynn, lang has been embraced by a new generation in recent years.
She’s charted on the Billboard Hot 100 twice, with her yearning 1992 hit “Constant Craving” and a showstopping 2010 Vancouver live version of fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah.” Originating in the early ’80s in Alberta as part of the burgeoning “cowpunk” scene, lang has never stopped evolving, even appearing on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums Chart in 2021. And she’s won many accolades, including the Order of Canada, four Grammys, four awards from GLAAD and much more.
Reservoir Media is used to working with legends and amplifying their catalogues for modern audiences. Last year, the company was responsible for bringing seminal hip-hop group De La Soul’s much-missed catalogue back to streaming and back onto the charts. Reservoir also signed a publishing deal with Joni Mitchell in 2021, right before her moving comeback.
But while lang’s deal with Reservoir includes some of her past work, it’s also about the future – which shows a trust in her continued success beyond her achievements.
“It never gets old when a legendary artist like k.d. lang decides to call Reservoir her home. Her incomparable voice and music are a gift to the world,” says Khosrowshahi. “We look forward to helping her share those gifts with new audiences and supporting her as she steps into the next chapter of her career.”
This article was originally published by Billboard Canada.
Sony Music Publishing Latin has signed Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús “JOP” Ortiz Paz and his label Street Mob Records. A leading indie label that puts out records in the Música Mexicana genre and beyond, Street Mob boasts a roster of more than 25 songwriters, producers and artists, including Chinco Pacas, Calle 24, Clave Especial and Miguel Armenta.
As one of the leading Música Mexicana groups, Fuerza Regida has helped introduce the genre to new fans around the world. The Mexican-American band’s ascent up the Billboard charts began in 2018, when Radicamos in South Central debuted at No. 35 on Regional Mexican Airplay. Since then, the band has produced a slew of hits, including “TQM,” “Bebe Dame” with Grupo Frontera, “Sabor Fresa,” “Harley Quinn” with Marshmello and many more. The group’s 2023 album Pa Las Baby’s Belikeada peaked at No. 1 on the Top Latin Albums chart and at No. 14 on the Billboard 200.
This week, JOP will join Billboard’s Leila Cobo in Miami at Billboard’s Latin Music Week as part of the Sony Music Publishing Icon Q+A.
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Recently, Fuerza Regida earned eight nominations at the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards, including artist of the year and album of the year, while JOP received nominations for songwriter of the year and producer of the year, along with recognition on Billboard’s 2024 Latin Power Player list.
“Partnering with Sony Music Publishing marks an exciting chapter for Street Mob Records,” said JOP in a statement. “This deal shows our commitment to exploring songwriting within Música Mexicana and beyond various genres. It’s a true reflection of the talent at Street Mob and what we’re creating together. With Sony Publishing, we’re building a partnership that aims to inspire the next generation of artists and leave a lasting impact.”
Sony Music Publishing president/CEO, Latin America and U.S. Latin Jorge Mejia said of the deal: “We couldn’t be happier to team up with an artist and executive like JOP and Street Mob Records, in order to help support and develop a fantastic stable of writers within Música Mexicana and beyond. This partnership with Street Mob is visionary and an incredible opportunity for the Sony Music Publishing family.”
Sony Music Publishing Latin director of creative Monica Jordan added: “We are thrilled to embark on this journey with JOP and Street Mob Records. We look forward to working with JOP and the Street Mob roster as they continue to innovate and push the boundaries of Música Mexicana even further.”