Publishing Catch-Up: Primary Wave Strikes $2bn Deal with Brookfield, New Portals Launch to Improve Music Rights Data & More
- Emma Griffiths
- Oct 6, 2022
- 4 min read
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: means there isn't any good acquisition that we couldn't do in the music business. We're not limited by size or opportunity.
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.
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.
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 have announced plans to launch a new online portal publishing songwriter and composer credits alongside its critical links between works and recordings identifiers.
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's new Distributor Unmatched Recordings Portal (DURP) will allow distributors to see the publicly available data for the unmatched recordings they've released.
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.
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
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) In 2012, the European Commission banned UMG from making a wide range of deals in Europe. That ban just expired.
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 has been named Managing Director, peermusic Australia, and will oversee creative and administrative operations for the company in the Australasia region.
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.
Cook was formerly the SVP of Licensing Operations at SESAC Performing Rights, and Vice President, Licensing Operations prior to that.
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
As the media and entertainment landscape continues to evolve, Eamonn Forde explores the impact on sync licensing fees and budgets.
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".
How financially secure can the music publishing world allow itself to feel in the streaming age? Eamonn Fode investigates.
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.
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