We catch up on the latest music publishing news, including; acquisitions, signing, funding, facts and figures, new hires, legal and more.
Deals & Acquisitions
Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker sells entire song catalog to Sony Music Publishing (Variety)
Parker has also worked extensively with Dua Lipa, Rihanna, SZA, Kendrick Lamar, Gorillaz and more. The deal encompasses his entire catalog of songs as well as future works.
Reservoir acquires catalog of 2Pac producer-songwriter Big D Evans (Music Week)
Reservoir Media has announced the acquisition of the producer royalties and publishing catalog of late hip-hop producer-songwriter Deon Evans, aka Big D Evans/Big D The Impossible.
Concord bows out of Hipgnosis bidding war, saying it’s $1.51bn offer is ‘final and will not be increased’ (MBW)
The race to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund took a turn as Concord announced that it will not raise its latest offer – leaving Blackstone as the frontrunner in the ongoing takeover battle.
Cinq Music acquires ‘Expansive’ Flow La Movie catalog (Digital Music News)
During his decade-long career, Flow La Movie accumulated credits on several high-profile Latin works, chief among them “Te Boté.”
Primary Wave Music acquires Neil Finn’s Publishing Catalog (Billboard)
Finn is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary songwriters in the game, and is a member of the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Kilometre Music Group has spent $130m+ on music rights to date (MBW)
Included in the recent catalog deals done via its Barometer Global Music Royalty Fund are stakes in the Taylor Swift hit singles Lavender Haze and Karma.
Warner Chappell launches publishing JV with ReverbNation (Music Week)
The collaboration brings music publishing services to ReverbNation’s songwriters, artists and digital creators.
Pulse Music Group forms JV with songwriter Jon Bellion (Music Week)
Pulse Music Group has formed a music publishing creative joint venture with songwriter, producer and recording artist Jon Bellion.
Bella Figura Music confirms its acquisition of RAK Publishing (Music Week)
Backed by private equity firm Freshstream Investment Partners, the company has now invested more than $80m in rights for catalogs across publishing, master, and neighboring rights.
Mark Morrison strikes ‘multi-million dollar’ music rights deal with Evan Bogart’s Seeker Music (MBW)
The agreement goes beyond mere acquisition as it also forms a creative partnership between Seeker and the British singer-songwriter, best known for his hit Return of the Mack.
Armada’s BEAT Music fund acquires publisher Cloud 9 Music (Music Week)
As part of the acquisition, the teams of Armada Publishing and Cloud 9 Music will merge to form Armada Music Publishing.
Signings
Marshall signs global publishing deal with Peermusic UK (Music Week)
The companies will work to sign and develop artists and songwriters with the Marshall Records label via a creative joint venture.
Warner Chappell and The Core sign joint publishing deal with Hannah McFarland (Music Week)
Warner Chappell Music and The Core Entertainment have signed a joint global publishing deal with Hannah McFarland.
Notting Hill Music signs producer and songwriter Ian Barter (Music Week)
Notting Hill Music has signed producer/writer Ian Barter to a long-term worldwide publishing agreement.
NEON16 signs Latin American producers, Faradon and Distobal, to its publishing division (MBW)
‘This partnership symbolizes our commitment to shaping the future of music,’ said Raul Chirinos, NEON16’s Head of Publishing.
Funding, Facts & Figures
Goldman Sachs bumps it’s 2024 music sales forecast (Digital Music News)
Goldman just recently disclosed an updated 2024 outlook as part of its Music in the Air report. Publishing’s expected 9.2% revenue expansion between 2024 and 2025 is contributing to a more optimistic stance overall.
IMPF: Independent music publishing sector valued at €2.4 billion (Music Week)
The independent music publishing sector grew by 16.8% in value year-on-year to €2.43 billion in 2022, although there was a slight drop in market share from 27.1% to 26.7%.
Global music publishing revenues were more than $9bn in 2023 (Music Ally)
That includes a headline figure for the latter: global revenues of $9.03bn in 2023, the first time they have been more than $9bn. That represented 10.9% growth year-on-year.
Sony Leads Q1 Publishing Currents (HDD)
With a share in two-thirds of the Top 100 airplay songs of Q1, Sony Music Publishing leads publishing market share (29%) in that category for the 12th consecutive quarter.
Legal
Music publishers threaten Spotify with legal action over lyrics, podcasts, music videos and Spotify fires back (MBW)
Music publishers appear to be on the verge of suing Spotify, alleging that the platform is infringing their copyrights through the widespread use of unlicensed musical work – but Spotify fires back calling it ‘false and misleading’.
UK lawmakers call for AI legislation to protect artists from deepfakes, copyright infringement (MBW)
Report calls for UK to pass new laws that would protect artists’ personalities from being copied by AI without permission; mandate transparent labelling of AI-generated content; and require AI developers to gain permission from copyright holders to use their materials for training.
Zync Music sues Round Hill over JV deal turned sour (Digital Music News)
Zync Music is suing Round Hill over a number of alleged contractual violations, including a failure to cough up millions in allegedly owed payments.
People
Peermusic UK names Ralph W Peer as MD (Music Week)
He is expanding his role within the independent music publishing firm to oversee creative and administrative operations for the company in the UK region.
Annie Abele promoted to Senior Vice President/ Head of Creative at Pulse Music Group (MBW)
The exec’s responsibilities will include signing, developing and implementing creative strategy for PULSE Music Group’s roster of songwriters and producers for the publishing division.
BMG promotes Sarah Mitchell to head up rights and royalties in the UK and Europe (Music Week)
BMG has promoted Sarah Mitchell to be responsible for its rights and royalties operations across both music publishing and recordings in Europe and the UK.
Delia Orjuela appointed Head of Creative Mexican Music at Warner Chappell Music (MBW)
Orjuela was instrumental in catapulting Mexican-American singer DannyLux to chart-topping success.
Interesting Reads
Synchronized Swimmingly?: The State of Sync in 2024 (Synchblog)
The need for the sector to evolve has always been there, it is just the speed at which it needs to evolve that is changing.
Spotify’s Estimated $150M Songwriter Royalty Cuts: Music Industry Reactions (Updating) (Billboard)
Organizations including the NMPA, AIMP and NSAI call the change “greedy,” “deeply cynical” and “problematic,” among other descriptors.
Universal Music Group and TikTok reach new licensing agreement (Music Week)
The deal is described as a “multi-dimensional licensing agreement that will deliver significant industry-leading benefits for UMG’s global family of artists, songwriters and labels.”
The NMPA’s TikTk deal has officially ended – what does that mean for independent publishers in the US? (MBW)
Music controlled by indie publishers represented by the trade body who haven’t unilaterally agreed a new direct agreement with TikTok, will be unlicensed for use on the platform.
