Publishing
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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.
The Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) had its first meeting of 2023 on Feb. 2 and invited National Music Publishers’ Association President and CEO, David Israelite, to address the organization. In his wide-ranging presentation, Israelite discussed artificial intelligence, Twitter, “realistic” copyright royalty board reform, and Phonorecords III (the ruling which will set U.S. streaming mechanical rates for the period of 2018-2022), which he said will be resolved “any day now.”
“We are five years and 33 days late of knowing what our rates are and counting,” said Israelite of Phono III, which was intended to be resolved at the start of the period in 2018 but has drug on ever since. In 2018, the NMPA and the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) had won an increase in the headline rate that songwriters and publishers are paid, but the following year Google, Spotify, Amazon and Pandora all appealed the ruling, hoping to go back to a previous rate they had paid in the period before. This led to indecision at the Copyright Royalty Board until July 1, 2022, when the judges announced a long-awaited determination in the remand proceeding, favoring to uphold what headline rate publishers and songwriters had asked for in 2018 but also providing other concessions to the streaming services, but the announcement was not the end of the road for Phono III. A true final determination still has yet to be announced.
“This is the definition of a broken process,” Israelite told the crowd of independent publishers. “This is why our top legislative priority for this next Congress is going to be reforming the way that the CRB works.” A number of independent voices in the songwriting and publishing community have voiced differing opinions regarding how to reform the CRB, how rates should be set, and who should get a seat at the negotiating table, as evidenced in their comments to the board during the proceedings of Phono IV. “CRB reform will only happen if all the parties come together and agree on what to do,” Israelite said. “When I talk about CRB reform, I’m going to talk about it in terms of what is possible, not in terms of what is utopia. There’s a lot we would change if we could [but some of] that is not happening.”
“Instead, we’re focused on two things: First, this process should encourage settlements. The goal of this process is to avoid going to court and working thing out like we have. Second part is that if you have to go to trial, if the settlement fails, then that process should work. When we have to wait more than five years to know what our rates have been, it doesn’t work,” he said. He also requested more resources for the Copyright Royalty Board’s judges.
In Congress, Israelite noted that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is the chair of the judiciary committee, does not have a history of dealing with music issues. So, he suggested, “We have to bring [the House] what is close to a finished product with consensus from the industry if there is any chance at passing CRB reform.”
Moving on to his “top legal focus” for the NMPA this year, Israelite called out Twitter for “hiding behind the DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act].” He said, “Twitter is the last major social media company that does not license and pay songwriters.” Since December 2021, the NMPA has been tracking infringements on the platform and systematically sending Twitter takedown notices. Since then, Israelite noted the NMPA has found over 240,000 unique infringements on Twitter. If Twitter does not take appropriate action to take down infringing material and safeguard against future infringements, Israelite said, “they could lose their safe harbor. What does it mean to lose your safe harbor? It means we now can sue you for copyright infringement.”
He then pivoted to discuss artificial intelligence and how it might affect songwriters. There are two main categories of concerns for Israelite when considering AI: inputs and outputs. For inputs, he is concerned that copyright-protected songs could be used as training data, and for outputs, there is worry that AI generators could create derivative works or compete with human made music. “This threatens the entire music economy,” he said. “I think that is pretty clear.”
“We have absolutely no time or attention for a debate about whether this is good or bad about whether it can be stopped or not about whether the music industry likes this or doesn’t like this, that is irrelevant,” he said. “Go back over time over every new technological development, generally, we later figure out how to live with it and make it work for us. Let’s do it now on the front end. Let’s not wait 10 years, and then figure out what to do about this.”
He suggested there are a few ways to safeguard music publishing and songwriters from oncoming AI technology. First, he said the NMPA educates lawmakers about AI’s threats to the music business. “There will likely not be legislation on this for some time,” he explained. Israelite also noted that they will be watching the legal space as court cases resolve certain questions regarding AI, but admitted, “We are not in a position today to even think about bringing legal action against any of these technologies.”
“Market response, to me, is the one that is the most relevant,” he said, considering out loud potential scenarios for the publishers in the room, like, AI generated or assisted songs coming on to streaming services and drawing attention and royalties away from the publishers’ catalogs of human-made music. He also said that some AI could be used as a songwriting tool not too dissimilar to other music creation tools of the past. “We’re only just now beginning to scratch the surface,” he said of what this technology is capable of changing within the business.
“I don’t have many answers for you today, other than what I’m hoping is that as an industry, we approach these AI issues with the mindset of this is not necessarily bad. It doesn’t matter anyway, because we’re not going to control it,” he said. “Instead, what are the opportunities? And how do we engage with it in a productive way, so we don’t look back and say, ‘It took us 20 years to figure out how to deal with AI like we did with digital music’?”
MusicBird AG, a Swiss-based music rights investment firm, has signed a term loan facility with a capacity up to $100 million with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). With publishing rights from hitmaker J.R. Rotem (Rihanna, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy) and master income and publishing rights from Shaggy already part of their acquired catalog, the firm is hoping to invest even further in music.
Founded in 2020, MusicBird began acquiring music rights in 2021. The company is focused on becoming a “boutique house of hits,” as described in their announcement, with a highly selective portfolio of “evergreen” songs. The firm notes it is open to all types of genres and regions when considering new catalogs and hopes to harness technology to help grow music revenue.
In addition to this new push into growing their catalog, MusicBird also recently appointed a new CEO, Paul Brown — who previously served as vp global content and platforms for HTC and svp strategic partnerships at Spotify — as well as a new CFO, Roger Howl — who previously worked as senior vp of finance at Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
This announcement comes shortly after a number of key catalog deals have been announced, including Opus Music Group’s 9-figure acquisition of Juice WRLD’s catalog and Hipgnosis’ acquisitions of parts of Tobias Jesso Jr. and Justin Bieber’s catalogs. Meanwhile, Variety is reporting a possible upcoming sale for Michael Jackson’s estate. Though last year some were predicting a slowdown in the catalog market, it appears there are still many players continuing to invest in music IP, despite an economic downturn, rising interest rates and other extenuating circumstances affecting the global economy.
Tony Beaudoin, managing director of entertainment finance at MUFG says: “MUFG is thrilled to lead the senior debt facility for MusicBird, which will allow the company to expand its catalog acquisition initiative of valued music rights. Paul and Roger bring trusted experience in the music space to the company and MUFG is confident in their ability to grow MusicBird’s IP library.”
Reservoir Media’s revenues rose and profit margins expanded last quarter, as the strength of its music publishing business helped offset a $4 million net loss, the company reported Wednesday (Feb. 8).
Reservoir reported that its top-line revenues rose by 16% to $29.9 million for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2023, which ended Dec. 31. The main drivers of that jump were the music publishing division, where revenues of $22 million jumped 14% from a year ago on strong digital streaming revenues, and Reservoir’s small artist management business, which delivered a year over year revenue increase of more than 200% from touring and merchandise sales at live events.
Reservoir founder and chief executive Golnar Khosrowshahi said the firm, which recently bought Dion‘s catalog and signed publishing deals with popular Indian rappers MC Altaf and D’Evil, has $2.3 billion in prospective catalog acquisition deals in its pipeline.
“We will continue to benefit from the overall momentum in the music industry,” Khosrowshahi said on a conference call discussing the quarterly results. “We are approaching the last fiscal quarter of the year with confidence.”
Reservoir raised its guidance for the fiscal year 2023, which ends March 31, for the second straight quarter. Executives said they now expect to report full-year revenue in the range of $120 million to $122 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the range of $46 million to $47 million.
The company reported that its adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter rose 24% to $10.9 million.
“While we are happy with our continued strength in the top line and operating margins, we did experience some pressure on the bottom line due to elevated costs during the quarter,” said Reservoir CFO Jim Heindlmeyer during the earnings call.
Reservoir reported a net loss of $4.1 million, stemming from a one-time non-cash tax expense related to the higher U.K. tax rate for 2023 and the extinguishment of some existing debt. That resulted in a diluted loss of 7 cents for the quarter compared to earnings of 2 cents per share for the quarter.
Depreciation and amortization costs also rose due to catalog acquisitions, while company administration expenses rose 19%, mainly due to Reservoir’s expanding management business division.
In the recorded music division, Reservoir reported revenue of $7.6 million, up just 1% over last year. While digital revenues in the division rose 17% to $5.3 million, declines in physical and synchronization revenue resulted in roughly flat growth year over year.
Zach Bryan, whose “Something In The Orange” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts, has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. Warner Chappell declined to disclose terms of the deal.
Bryan, who is signed to Warner Records, has broken through as one of the brightest new artists of the past few years, including being named Billboard’s Top New Country Artist of 2022.
Los Angeles-based David Goldsen, WCM head of A&R, Australia and vp of creative, signed Bryan. “Zach is a truly generational songwriter and that was obvious from the first time I heard his music. Those songs then, along with countless more since, resonate with everyone who hears them. He’s a natural storyteller with an innate ability to write songs that are unapologetically raw and vulnerable. In a short amount of time, he’s captivated fans of all music, and we’re beyond lucky and thrilled to work with him.”
Goldsen began courting Bryan some time ago. “I’d like to personally thank David and the team over at Warner Chappell. I was just a confused kid in the Navy four years ago and they were the first people I talked to in the industry, literally,” Bryan said in a statement. “They never pushed a four-man writing team on me, they never asked me to do anything I didn’t want to do, they just believed in me. I owe them more than just support, I owe them back the faith they had in me as a barely 23-year-old Oklahoma kid walking around New York like a sore thumb.”
Bryan’s major-label debut, American Heartbreak, came out in May with Bryan penning all 34 songs by himself. It debuted atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and hit No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. According to Warner Chappell, he has surpassed one billion global streams.
“Zach has already had a record-breaking start to his career and there’s so much more to come,” said Warner Chappell Music president of North America Ryan Press. “He isn’t afraid to do things differently, and it’s been incredible to see him become such a positive force in the industry and reshape how singer/songwriters release music. This is a huge moment, and we’re very proud to be on this journey together as he continues to carve out his own path.”
Bryan’s Burn Burn Burn North American Tour kicks off May 10 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.
Hipgnosis Song Management has bought 100% of Tobias Jesso Jr.‘s interest in his publishing, including the writer’s share of performance, for 40 of his songs. All tracks included in the deal were released between 2015 and 2020, including “When We Were Young” by Adele, “Slow Hands” by Niall Horan, “You Get My Love” by P!nk, “If You Leave Me Now” by Charlie Puth, “Hallelujah” by Haim and “Malibu Nights” by LANY, as well as several songs Jesso released himself.
News of the deal arrives on the heels of the Grammys, where Jesso made history as the first person to win in the new Songwriter of the Year category. He was awarded the prize based on his extensive impact on pop music in the last year, penning songs like “Boyfriends” by Harry Styles, “Can I Get It” and “To Be Loved” by Adele, “Careless” by FKA Twigs, “C’mon Baby Cry” by Orville Peck, “Dotted Lines” by King Princess, “Let You Go” by Diplo and TSHA and “No Good Reason” by Omar Apollo. None of these songs are included in the Hipgnosis deal.
Hipgnosis Songs Capital is an investment vehicle established by Hipgnosis in conjunction with Blackstone. In October 2021, the New York-based private equity firm pledged $1 billion to further investment in music IP and holds a majority stake in the venture. HSC is considered separate from Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the London-listed acquirer of music publishing and recording rights. Led by founder and CEO Merck Mercuriadis, the company also includes Hipgnosis Songs Management, which manages Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s catalog.
Jesso was represented in the deal by his manager, Ben Persky at Mixed Management, and lawyer Nicky Stein at Clintons.
“Tobias is amongst the most important songwriters in contemporary music today as demonstrated by his winning the 2023 Grammy Award for Songwriter Of The Year, in its inaugural year,” said Mercuriadis in a statement. “I fell in love with his songs right from the get go with Goon eight years ago and he never fails to deliver. I’m delighted to welcome Tobias and his manager Ben Persky to the Hipgnosis family.”
All songs included in Hipgnosis’ purchase are listed in alphabetical order below.
“Alive” by Sia
“Ayala” by XXXTENTACION
“Bad Words” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Broken” by Madison Ryann Ward
“Bruised Fruit” by St. Paul & The Broken Bones
“Can We Still Be Friends” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Can’t Stop Thinking About You” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Crocodile Tears” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“The End Of Love” by Florence + The Machine
“For You” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Grace” by Florence + The Machine
“Hallelujah” by HAIM
“Hollywood” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“How Could You Babe” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“How Do We Make It” by Jarryd James
“Hunger” by Florence + The Machine
“If He Won’t” by Guy Sebastian
“If You Leave Me Now” by Charlie Puth
“Just A Dream” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Lay Me Down” by Adele
“Leaving Los Angeles” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Malibu Nights” by LANY
“Marching Into The Dark” by John Legend
“Nice To Meet Ya” by Niall Horan
“Nice To Meet Ya (Diplo Remix)” by Niall Horan
“No Judgement” by Niall Horan
“Not Thinkin’ Bout You” by Ruel
“Not Thinkin’ Bout You (Remix) Ft. Goldlink” by Ruel
“Oh Lord” (from the soundtrack to Netflix’s The Get Down)
“Orlando” by XXXTENTACION
“Reasons” by Cautious Clay
“Roses” by Shawn Mendes
“Same Mistakes” by Seramic
“Same Old Story” by John Legend
“Slow Hands” by Niall Horan
“Still Around” by Paloma Faith
“Tell The Truth” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Treat Myself” by Meghan Trainor
“True Love” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Trying” by Seramic
“Unsaid” by Ruel
“The Wait” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“When We Were Young” by Adele
“Without You” by Tobias Jesso Jr.
“Work For Me” by Laura Mvula
“You Get My Love” by P!nk
Helen Murphy is no longer CEO of Anthem Entertainment, according to a rep for the company. Jason Klein, who previously served as senior vp of business affairs and Canadian general manager, is taking over as interim CEO.
Anthem Entertainment was formerly known as ole Media Management. The rebrand, which took place in 2019, reflected the organization’s widening purview as it expanded from a music publishing company into something more multi-faceted. Over the course of several years, it acquired recordings (including the Rush catalog), music production companies and an audiovisual secondary-rights business, which Murphy described as “the second-largest collector of audiovisual secondary rights in the world, after the Motion Picture Association of America, which collects for the major studios.”
Murphy was named CEO in November 2018, a little more than six months before ole became Anthem. She had previously worked as CFO at PolyGram Records, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Warner Music Group. Anthem “is a joyous name,” she told Billboard in 2019. “Everybody knows what an anthem is.” Murphy was named to Billboard‘s Power List in 2019 and 2022 and to Billboard‘s Women in Music list the same years.
In 2019, Anthem looked after publishing rights for 50,000 songs by over 400 songwriters. During Murphy’s tenure, the company expanded its publishing business by purchasing 50% of Wrensongs, acquiring a song catalog from Boardwalk Music Group and picking up the Kelly Archer song catalog. Archer helped pen country hits like Travis Denning’s “After A Few” and Justin Moore’s “Somebody Else Will,” both of which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and Brett Young’s “Sleep Without You,” which reached No. 2.
Last March, sources told Billboard that Anthem was up for sale. “This is a very exciting time for Anthem, as we look to strategically broaden our opportunities globally,” Murphy said in a statement at the time. “Anthem has hired an investment bank to help it evaluate all of its strategic growth options. The company has strongly emerged from the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, having grown across all segments of its business, and we want to continue to capitalize on our growth momentum.”
Ultra International Music Publishing (UIMP) has acquired the catalog of Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Zaytoven. In addition, the hitmaker — whose catalog includes tracks by Migos, Drake, 21 Savage, and more — has signed a co-publishing agreement with Ultra to further foster his career moving forward.
Yonatan Watts has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Position Music and Tommy “TB Hits” Brown‘s Chapagne Therapy Music Group (CTMG). A Grammy-nominated hitmater, Watts has already penned hits for Chris Brown, Ariana Grande, Ari Lennox, Coi Leray and more, including “main thing” by Grande which he co-wrote alongside Brown for the singer’s album Positions.
SOFI TUKKER has extended their publishing deal with Third Side Music. The independent publisher will continue to act as the administrator of the electronic pop group’s catalog, as they have since 2017. “Signing with [Third Side] has been one of the best decisions we’ve made in our career,” says SOFI TUKKER about extending their deal.
Warner Chappell Production Music has expanded its operations into São Paulo, Brazil. Helmed by Renato Moraes, the WCPM team in Brazil will focus on building out a local repertoire of music and service Brazil’s film, tv, radio and advertising clients with custom music services and a wide-reaching catalog of songs and sound design. Moraes will reported to Sinéad Hartmann, vp of licensing and music creative.
Ocha Media Inc. has launched its new publishing administration and music synchronization service, Ocha Publishing. The new company will focus on aiding underground house music — including afro house, deep house, soulful house, techno and other subgenres — makers and will help the genre reach music supervisors, producers and creative directors. Its first signing is Osunlade’s Yoruba Records.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville and Droptine have jointly signed country hitmakers Russell Sutton and Tommy Karlas to global publishing deals. Sutton got his start as part of Grassroots Revival, and as a songwriter he has made cuts with Elvie Shane, Drew Green, and Nate Smith. Karlas has written songs for Blake Shelton, Warren Zeiders, Old Dominion, Randy Travis, and Montgomery Gentry.
Shirin David, one of Germany’s most popular female hip hop artists, has signed a deal with Warner Chappell Music. Natascha Augustin, vp of a&r, Warner Chappell Music Germany, adds, “Warner Chappell Music is known for its diverse roster, and we’re delighted to welcome Shirin who has been pushing boundaries as a female hip-hop artist.”
Peermusic U.K. has signed The Reytons to an exclusive global publishing deal via their joint venture with Max Music Publishing. The British indie rock outfit comprises of Jonny Yerrell, Lee Holland, Joe O’Brien, and Jamie Todd, and their new deal arrives on the heels of their record What’s Rock and Roll, reaching a new U.K. chart high.
Warner Chappell and Truth or Dare Publishing have signed country singer/songwriter Abbey Cone to a joint publishing deal. A CMT Next Women of Country inductee, Cone released her debut EP, Hate Me, last year. In 2023, she will perform at Stagecoach.
On Jan. 29, the Brooklyn Variety Ramble debuted in New York City. The city’s first ongoing music variety show showcasing country, bluegrass, Americana, American Roots and more, Brooklyn Variety Ramble series, hosted by comedian Ali Clayton, will also hold shows on Feb. 26, March 26, April 30, May 28, and June 25. Tickets are available for purchase online.
Hipgnosis Songs Management has purchased 100% interest in publishing copyrights to 217 songs in the catalog of TMS, the British songwriting and production trio.
This latest acquisition includes the trio’s publishing copyrights, producer royalty streams, and neighboring rights, including “Someone You Loved” and “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi and “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself” by Jess Glynne.
Comprised of Tom “Froe” Barnes, Benjamin Kohn, and Peter “Merf” Kelleher, TMS has already sold the copyrights of 121 of their other songs to Hipgnosis in the past, including songs recorded by G-Eazy, Sigma and Emeli Sandé. The writers’ share of ownership and royalties of the previous 121 songs is also included in the latest acquisition.
“Someone You Loved” has achieved 7-times platinum status in the U.K. since its release in 2018 and is touted as the U.K.’s most played song of all time on Spotify. Worldwide, it ranks as the fourth most streamed with 2.6 billion and counting. “Someone You Loved” was written by Lewis Capaldi, Samuel Roman, and the TMS trio, meaning Hipgnosis now controls three out of five writers’ shares of publishing. TMS also produced the track.
Hipgnosis Songs Management, the entity managing the publicly traded company’s catalog, acquired these songs on behalf of Hipgnosis Songs Capital, an investment vehicle established by Hipgnosis and Blackstone. The world’s largest alternative asset manager, Blackstone pledged $1 billion to further investment in music IP with Hipgnosis and also took a majority stake.
TMS has also worked with Dua Lipa, John Legend, Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran, Lily Allen and Bebe Rexha, One Direction, Cher, Ed Sheeran, Leona Lewis, Rita Ora, Jessie J, Lily Allen, Labrinth, JLS, Years & Years, Oily Murs, Ella Henderson, Birdy, Jem & The Holograms, Sinead Harnett, Kwabs and Dot Rotten.
It is not clear which, if any, of these artists’ songs are included in this deal. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
TMS were represented by Paul Centellas at North Pole Management and Sonia Diwan at Sound Advice.
“Froe, Ben, Merf and their manager Paul Centellas have been an important part of the Hipgnosis family for many years now so it’s fantastic that we’ve been able to continue our relationship with this new acquisition including what will undoubtedly be a contender for song of the decade with Lewis Capaldi’s iconic ‘Someone You Loved,’” says Merck Mercuriadis, CEO and founder of Hipgnosis Song Management.
Barnes, Kohn and Kelleher (TMS) jointly add, We’re incredibly proud of this body of work and know Merck and the family at Hipgnosis will be excellent custodians of these copyrights in future. It’s incredible to see what they’ve built in just a few short years and we know they’ll continue to represent these songs with passion and commitment.”
“Nobody is doing more to elevate the standing and value of the songwriter than Merck and the team at Hipgnosis,” says Centellas, managing director, North Pole Management. “We’re very happy to entrust them with these incredible copyrights and look forward to working with them across various initiatives to ensure the songwriter is properly valued and remunerated in future. Without songwriters, there is no music business.”
Some say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but according to a new lawsuit, singer Rick Astley disagrees.
Astley filed a lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles court claiming that while Yung Gravy and his collaborators secured rights to re-record the melody and lyrics of some of his 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” for their track “Betty (Get Money),” they recorded it too close to the original and infringed on his “right of publicity” by “flagrantly impersonat[ing]” Astley’s voice.
Recreating the magic of older songs in new hits is not unique to “Betty (Get Money).” It’s common for artists to secure the rights to use the underlying musical work, like Gravy’s team did with “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and re-record portions of the song’s melody, lyrics and more for use in a new song, a process called “interpolation.” Sometimes, this ends up sounding incredibly similar sounding to the original recording, and other times, the team will put its own spin on the old track.
By opting for an interpolation rather than a true sample, teams avoid the tedious and costly process of securing the rights to the original recording as well, a separate right from that of the musical work. With interpolations, only the songwriters and publishers involved in writing the song have to approve of the new use of their song, not the singer. Interpolations also have the added bonus of providing producers with more flexibility and creativity. But now Astley’s lawsuit has music executives questioning if it could “open the floodgates” to litigation or at least tamp down the practice.
To the average listener, the “Betty (Get Money)” intro hinges on what sounds like a direct sample of “Never Gonna Give You Up.” But, as Gravy told Billboard months ago, he and his collaborators instead “basically remade the whole song,” in the studio. “[We] had a different singer and instruments, but it was all really close because it makes it easier legally,” he said.
Similarly, “I Like It” by Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin is widely believed to include a sample of of “I Like It Like That (A Mi Me Gusta Asi)” by Pete Rodriguez, but the iconic-sounding recording is also a dupe. In an interview with The Verge, the song’s engineer, Leslie Brathwaite, explained that, “a lot of people think that’s the actual sample, but it was actually replayed. Craig [Kallman, chairman of Atlantic Records and one of the track’s producers] hired people to replay every aspect of that sample, and it turned out to be like, 60 tracks worth of stuff… because they didn’t want to clear the sample.”
Nick “Popnick” Seeley, the producer who recreated Rick Astley’s voice for “Betty (Get Money),” told Billboard in a previous interview that he was also part of the replay process for “I Like It” by Cardi B, along with “Dirty Iyanna” by Youngboy Never Broke Again (which replays “Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson). “I have a knack for vintage stuff… this is a really cool way for me to participate in what’s going on in pop music right now,” he said in the past interview. (Seeley is named alongside Gravy, fellow collaborators Dillon Francis and David “dwilly” Wilson, and Republic Records as defendants in the lawsuit. He declined Billboard’s request for comment.)
Danielle Middleton, senior director of producer/songwriter management firm Page 1 and former A&R at Sony Music Publishing, notes that sampling and interpolation is bigger than ever. “Nostalgia is huge right now,” she says. With songs like “First Class” by Jack Harlow (which features a sample of “Glamorous” by Fergie), “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha (which interpolates “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Eiffel 65, Gabry Ponte), “Big Energy” by Latto (which borrows from “Genius of Love” by Tom Tom Club, which is also featured in “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey) and more dominating the Hot 100 in recent years, many artists are looking to quickly jump onto the trend by flipping familiar tunes into something new.
Music attorney Todd Rubenstein wagers that most music creators have likely not considered there could be any legal risk in creating closely imitated interpolations. Producer Marc “Fresh2Def” Soto, half of duo ClickNPress and has worked with J. Cole, Queen Naija, and Alessia Cara, says music execs have often encouraged him to convert samples into interpolations. “A record label will be like, ‘Hey we can’t get the clearance for the sample, but we can get an interpolation, would you be able to replay XYZ thing?’ I’ve been through that on several records with different labels.”
While Soto explains it’s not unheard of for a producer to strive for an exact dupe, far more commonly, he says, producers will make small changes to create distinction. Soto also says an exact imitation is often nearly impossible, anyway. Without access to the same studios and equipment as the creators of a track made decades ago did, re-recordings usually sound different from the original track, even if the attempt was to imitate. It’s most common to hear imitations of guitar parts, drum loops and other instrumentals. Vocals are more rare.
One publishing executive, who spoke to Billboard on the condition of anonymity, says they feel switching out a sample for a close interpolation is not just used to speed up licensing and save money. It’s also incredibly common for “creative reasons,” allowing the producers to control the parameters and tone of each individual element of the song.
In a previous story with Billboard, Primary Wave, the company that owns the rights to “Never Gonna Give You Up” songwriter Pete Waterman’s catalog, explained that the creation of “Betty (Get Money)” was part of a strategy the company has been working on for the past few years. In hopes of boosting the popularity and earnings of their catalog, the team will encourage artists and producers to interpolate or sample from songs they hold some or all rights to.
So far, the technique has been quite successful for Primary Wave. In addition to “Betty (Get Money),” this strategy has produced songs like “Just Can’t Get Enough” by Channel Tres (which sampled Teddy Pendergrass’s “The More I Get The More I Want”), “Thought It Was” by Iann Dior and Machine Gun Kelly (which interpolated the melody of Semisonic’s “Closing Time”) and “What a Night” by Flo Rida (which borrowed from Frankie Valli’s “Oh What A Night”). Primary Wave was not named in this lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Astley’s lawyer claims the singer has been “looking to collaborate with another artist and/or producer to create something new with his voice from ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’,” but because of the “nearly indistinguishable” imitation of Astley in “Betty (Get Money),” his opportunities to do this have been “obliterated.”
While Milk & Honey founder Lucas Keller says the popularity of Yung Gravy’s tune with such a prominent interpolation of “Never Gonna Give You Up” may hinder opportunities for a major sample placement for Astley’s original tune in the short term, the other publishing executive adds that they believe the opposite is true long-term. “If you’d look at James Brown or Parliament Funkadelic or any number of people that are often sampled, I feel like statistically, the more your work is used, it means you’re more likely to get sampled again.”
As to the lawsuit, Keller, who manages a number of top producers, says it “could set creators back.” The publishing executive agrees, arguing the case could scare creators and hinder creativity in sampling, covering and interpolating.
Soto says this would not be the first time a lawsuit affected producers in recent years, citing the controversial Blurred Lines trial, which claimed the Hot 100-topping hit of that name by Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I. plagiarized the composition “Got To Give It Up” by Marvin Gaye because some felt it centered on similar feels of the two songs — perhaps widening what elements are protected under copyright law. The same lawyer who represented the Gaye family in that trial, Richard Busch, is representing Astley in his lawsuit. With this case, Soto adds, “We might get to a place where things start to feel like, ‘Why am I interpolating anyways when I might get sued?’”
Even if Astley and Gravy settle out of court, Rubenstein believes we’re likely “going to see other lawsuits off the back of this lawsuit” from artists who feel emboldened to fight imitations or similar-sounding interpolations of their voices in songs they were not a part of. He says, “I could see older artists that had this happen to them in the past realize, ‘Hey, I have the same claim.’”
Busch, Republic Records, Primary Wave, and Gravy did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment.