We catch up on the latest music publishing news, from key deals and signings to new hires, legislation and more.
Deals & Signings
Primary Wave strikes $2 billion deal with financial giant Brookfield to acquire music copyrights (MBW)
Primary Wave Chief Executive Larry Mestel tells the Journal: “[This deal] means there isn’t any good acquisition that we couldn’t do in the music business. We’re not limited by size or opportunity.”
Concord acquires catalogues of Genesis’ Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford (Music Week)
The deal includes the publishing and recorded music catalogue from their years in Genesis. It was reportedly worth over $300 million.
Future Sells Song Publishing Catalog to Influence Media Partners: ‘An Artist of the Ages’ (Billboard)
The eight-figure deal includes several No. 1 songs and albums spanning Future’s first 16 years as a recording artist.
‘Boyfriend’ Singer Dove Cameron Signs With Sony Music Publishing (Billboard)
News of the deal arrives just after Cameron won the best new artist prize at the MTV VMAs and went viral with her queer pop anthem “Boyfriend.”
Universal Music Publishing Group signs Bicep (Music Week)
The electronic music producer/songwriter/DJ duo – Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar – received two BRIT nominations in 2021.
Avicii’s Family Sells 75% of Late DJ’s Catalog to Pophouse (Variety)
The family of Avicii, the late, multi-platinum-selling Swedish DJ, has sold 75% of his master recordings and publishing to Pophouse Entertainment, the Stockholm-based company co-founded by ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus.
Royalties & CMOs
PRS for Music to Launch Pioneering New Online Portal (Synchblog)
PRS for Music have announced plans to launch a new online portal publishing songwriter and composer credits alongside its critical links between works and recordings identifiers.
SoundCloud teams with Björn Ulvaeus’ Session on collaboration tools for music creators (Music Week)
Following the deal, SoundCloud becomes the first platform to digitally receive both song audio and the essential song metadata directly from the Session Studio app.
The MLC Launches New Portal for Independent Music Distributors (Synchblog)
The MLC’s new Distributor Unmatched Recordings Portal (DURP) will allow distributors to see the publicly available data for the unmatched recordings they’ve released.
Songwriters call for full transparency around US song royalty rate settlement deal (CMU)
The Music Creators North America organisation has called on the US Copyright Royalty Board to make public the agreement reached between the music publishers and the streaming services regarding the rates to be paid by the latter for the streaming of songs in the years ahead.
New Pex-powered PRO will focus on UGC music royalties (Music Ally)
It’s powering a new ‘digital-first rights management organisation’ called RME, which is setting its sights on collecting music royalties from user-generated content for “unaffiliated songwriters”.
Finance & Investment
Hipgnosis secures debt refinancing amid ‘unpredictable’ market conditions (Music Week)
The company has entered into a new revolving credit facility with a commitment of $700 million, which runs for five years until September 2027.
How Wall Street became infatuated with the music industry (Financial Times)
Low interest rates made investing in song catalogues a hot trend on Wall Street. As interest rates rise, what happens now?
After 10 long years, the handcuffs are coming off Universal Music Group in Europe. (MBW)
New $100m-backed fund launches to buy catalogs in Asia, led by industry veteran Chee Meng Tan and ex-Universal Music China MD Garand Wu (MBW)
Managed by Prime Asia Asset Management, and based in Singapore, the blackx Music Fund is headed up by its founder and Group CEO, the widely respected music industry veteran Chee Meng Tan.
People
Ralph W. Peer Named Managing Director of peermusic Australia (Synchblog)
Ralph W. Peer has been named Managing Director, peermusic Australia, and will oversee creative and administrative operations for the company in the Australasia region.
Reservoir Media appoints Russell Hunt as senior creative manager (Music Week)
Reservoir Media has announced the hiring of Russell Hunt as a senior creative manager. Hunt will be based in Reservoir’s London office, working closely with Reservoir’s UK head of creative Charlie Pinder to help expand the company’s global presence.
Rose Cook promoted to SVP of Operations at SESAC Music Group (MBW)
Cook was formerly the SVP of Licensing Operations at SESAC Performing Rights, and prior to that.
Sony Music Publishing UK names Rob Stratton as director, visual & media rights (Music Week)
In this role, Stratton will be responsible for working with broadcasters and media production companies, and will be the primary point of contact for SMP’s UK visual & media clients.
Interesting Reads
Syncing or Rising? How Synchronization Fees Are Evolving (Synchblog)
As the media and entertainment landscape continues to evolve, Eamonn Forde explores the impact on sync licensing fees and budgets.
Guy Moot on the globalization of music and the ‘new songwriter economy’ (MBW)
During the keynote, Moot said that it’s “never been a more exciting time to be in the music industry, especially for publishers and songwriters”.
The “Fifth Wheel”: Just How Financially Secure is Music Publishing? (Synchblog)
How financially secure can the music publishing world allow itself to feel in the streaming age? Eamonn Forde investigates.
Music in the metaverse: Redefining music rights in the Web3 world (MBW)
The following MBW op/ed comes from Deborah Mannis-Gardner, Owner/President, DMG Clearances, and a global expert on music rights clearances.
Report Spotlight
All 4 parts of our comprehensive music publishing report, Music Publishing in the Age of the Songwriter, are now available.
With commentary from leading executives and songwriters including Björn Ulvaeus, Carianne Marshall, Jon Platt, Mary Megan Peer, Merck Mercuriadis, and Nile Rodgers, the report delivers the most comprehensive analysis of the music publishing industry from the perspective of those leading it and the songwriters it serves.
