Publishing Catch-Up: KISS to “Live Forever” Following $300m Pophouse Acquisition, Dua Lipa’s Radical22 Inks WCM Admin Deal & More

In this month’s music publishing catch-up on the latest publishing news, from acquisitions to facts and figures, new hires and more.

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Deals & Acquisitions

KISS sells catalog, name, likeness and more to Pophouse Entertainment for $300 million (Variety)

In a statement, Pophouse plans to promote the group’s “iconic music, enigmatic personas, and expressive imagery for generations to come.”

Dua Lipa’s media and management company Radical22 inks ‘one-of-a-kind’ global admin deal with Warner Chappell Music (MBW)

Described as a “one-of-a-kind, bespoke agreement”, the deal was arranged between Warner Chappell Music CEO Guy Moot and Dugi Lipa of Radical22 Publishing.

Iconic Artists acquires stake in Bryan Ferry's catalogue (Music Week)

Iconic partnered with Ferry to acquire 50% of his sound recording, publishing, and name, image and likeness rights.

Bella Figura Music acquires writer's share of Human League co-founder Adrian Wright (Music Week)

He was a co-writer on Don’t You Want Me, which sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK, became a Christmas No.1 and topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Beggars Music partners with Hyperdub (Music Week)

The deal includes the acquisition of Burial’s entire publishing catalogue, alongside producer and Hyperdub founder Kode9, Jessy Lanza, Lee Gamble, OKZharp, Mana, Proc Fiskal and Manthe Ribane.

Signings

Teddy Swims inks global publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music (MBW)

Swims, whose real name is Jaten Dimsdale, is known for his unique blend of genres including R&B, soul, country, and pop.

SM Entertainment plans to push publishing business into North America, Europe (Billboard)

The K-pop company's Kreation Music Rights (KMR) also announced the signing of 86 songwriters since its launch in September.

Alternative Songs, a joint venture from Various Artists & Stellar Songs, unveils new signings (MBW)

Based in London and LA, Alternative Songs is headed by exec Joe Etchells (former EMI, Universal Music Publishing, BMG Publishing and Wildlife Entertainment), who joined Various Artists as Head of A&R and Artist Development last year.

Wise Music Group signs Portico Quartet (Music Week)

Their 2007 debut album, Knee-Deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Their music has evolved with each release, drawing on jazz, ambient and classical influences.

UMPG signs global deal with Yusuf / Cat Stevens (Music Week)

Inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, Yusuf / Cat Stevens has timeless hits including Father And Son, Wild World, The Wind and Morning Has Broken.

Nothing But Thieves sign publishing deal with Peermusic UK (Music Week)

The deal for the group’s future works comes ahead of their fifth album, while their existing catalogue will remain with Sony Music Publishing.

Warner Chappell and Katy Perry's Unsub Publishing sign Debbii Dawson (Music Week)

Dawson’s debut track, Even If It Kills Me, landed on the cover of Spotify’s Fresh Finds Pop Best of 2023 end of year playlist.

Reservoir signs publishing deal with Kings Of Leon (Music Week)

Since their debut in 2003, Kings Of Leon have released eight LPs, collectively selling over 20 million albums and nearly 40 million singles worldwide.

Position Music signs Tinashe to worldwide publishing deal 

(Broadway World)`Tinashe is a multi-platinum singer, writer, and producer who fuses innovative sounds across R&B, pop, and hip-hop.

PROs and Royalties

The MLC has distributed over $2bn to songwriters and publishers since 2021 (MBW)

This month, The MLC completed its 36th monthly royalty distribution, every one of which, it said, “has been completed on time or early”.

With the MLC’s re-designation underway, streamers and publishers clash over its future (Billboard)

The Digital Media Association and National Music Publishers' Association have conflicting views on the organization's operations and efficiency as the MMA hits its five-year anniversary.

Are songwriters and publishers really still due an extra $400m? Breaking down the numbers (Billboard)

The performance royalties included in that headline-grabbing number may have already been paid out.

Barcelona appeals court rules that Spanish authors’ society SGAE ‘abused its position’ in the market, in victory for rival Unison (MBW)

SGAE's all-or-nothing rights contracts with its members prevented the liberalization of the rights market in Spain, competitor UNISON says.

SESAC Music Group strikes global rights management agreement with South Korea’s KOSCAP (MBW)

With this move, SESAC has become one of the first PROs to move its repertoire from the long-established Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), which has operated in the market since 1964.

ASCAP touts record results, the AI ‘threat’ and differences with its for-profit rival at annual meeting (Billboard)

"Without songwriters, there is no art in artificial intelligence," says ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews.

Blur’s Dave Rowntree tackles PRS for Music over ‘black box’ royalties (Music Ally)

The Times newspaper reported this weekend that Rowntree is leading a claim issued through the UK’s competition appeal tribunal.

Funding, Facts & Figures

Music royalties trading platform JKBX launches – with regulatory approval from the SEC (MBW)

It’s caused quite a buzz in the music business over the past year. Now song royalties trading platform JKBX is officially “open for business”.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund due-diligence report blasts investment advisor (Music Ally)

In Shot Tower Capital’s opinion HSM “applied revenue recognition policies and accrual estimates that results in materially overstated revenue and EBITDA” for HSF during its time as its investment advisor.

Kobalt’s new credit facility, securitization give it over $1 billion for dealmaking (Billboard)

A $450 million credit facility, and a previously reported asset-backed securitization, will help "continue our investment into the business and our technology," said CFO Catrin Drabble.

HarbourView raises $500m in debt financing led by KKR (MBW)

Arguably the even bigger news today is who led that debt financing: investment giant KKR.

Legal

Non-profit Fairly Trained certifies an AI large language model as free of copyright infringement, in a blow to a key claim of AI firms (MBW)

"There is no fundamental reason that large language model developers can’t work in a way that respects creators’ rights."

Billie Eilish and 200+ artists call to "cease use of AI" that sabotages and undermines creators

Issued by the Artist Rights Alliance, the open letter calls on AI developers, technology companies, platforms and DSPs to “cease the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”

As landmark AI Act passes EU parliament vote, rightsholders urge ‘meaningful and effective’ enforcement of copyright (MBW)

Some legal analysts say the law contains ambiguities on the issue of copyrighted materials being used to train AI.

TikTok’s next licensing headache is the expiry of its NMPA deal (Music Ally)

The NMPA has announced that its TikTok licensing deal expires on 30 April, and that “we do not anticipate that there will be an option to renew or extend the current NMPA licenses or participate in a new license with TikTok through NMPA”.

Elon Musk’s X can’t shake music publishers’ multi-million dollar copyright infringement lawsuit (MBW)

A court in Tennessee is allowing a group of music publishers to proceed with certain elements of their multi-million dollar copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (or Twitter).

People

Primary Wave Music bolsters sync team with new hire and promotions (MBW)

Company hired Julianne Wilson as Senior Director, Creative Sync, and promotes Peter Kurczaba and Derek Pierce to new roles.

Brennen Bryant named A&R Director at Avex USA publishing, signs DJ Smallz 732 (MBW)

Bryant will oversee the publishing division, working closely with the A&R team and Lou Al-Chamaa, who was appointed as Avex USA’s SVP, Head of A&R Publishing, last year.

Adriana Ramos named Managing Director, Brazil at Universal Music Publishing Group (MBW)

Based in Rio de Janeiro, Ramos joined UMPG in 2013 and most recently served as head of UMPG Brazil’s Creative team – A&R and Sync.

Position Music hires former Kobalt exec Jay Moore as VP, Head of Investments (MBW)

Moore previously served as Chief Investment Officer at Ditto Music and Senior Director, Investments & Office of CEO at Kobalt Music.

Lisa Lii appointed Managing Director of Warner Chappell China; Mar Ma named Director, A&R (MBW)

Li will be based in Beijing, and will report to Arica Ng, who was named WCM’s President, Asia Pacific, in 2023. Li will spearhead WCM’s operations in China.

Interesting Reads

Making music (and profits) with Jody Gerson (HerMoney)

How Jody Gerson transformed Universal Music Publishing Group and is working to make the music industry more inclusive for women.

Suno is a music AI company aiming to generate $120 billion per year. But is it trained on copyrighted recordings? (MBW)

Newton-Rex – a published classical composer – highlights multiple examples of tracks made on Suno that are strikingly similar to hit pop music copyrights...