We catch up on the latest music publishing news, from key deals and signings to new hires, legislation and more.
Deals & Acquisitions
Reservoir acquires Dallas Austin catalogue including hits by Pink, Gwen Stefani and TLC (Music Week)
Austin’s catalogue spans several decades and includes hit songs such as Boyz II Men’s Motownphilly, several hits from Madonna’s Bedtime Stories, Gwen Stefani’s Cool, Pink’s Just Like a Pill, Michael Jackson’s 2 Bad, and many more.
Primary Wave Acquires Publishing, Recorded Catalogs of Toto Drummer Jeff Porcaro (Digital Music News)
Primary Wave has acquired the publishing and recorded catalogs of Toto drummer (and “Africa” songwriter) Jeff Porcaro in a reportedly $30 million deal.
CTM Outlander acquires songwriter Natalie Hemby’s music rights (Music Week)
CTM Outlander has acquired the music rights covering the last decade of songwriter Natalie Hemby’s music, and concluded an exclusive agreement for her future compositions.
Signings
Cardi B signs to Warner Chappell (CMU)
“I’ve always admired how the Warner Chappell team support their songwriters and artists and I look forward to a thriving and successful partnership with them”, says the rapper.
Peermusic UK signs Kid Rain to exclusive global publishing deal (Music Week)
Kid Rain has amassed 10 million streams for his single Accidentally In Love. It has 250 million views and 400,000 shares on TikTok, and hit No.25 on the Spotify Viral Chart UK and No.30 on the Apple Music chart UK.
UMPG signs songwriter and producer Cirkut to worldwide publishing agreement (Music Week)
Henry Walter, professionally known as Cirkut, has written and produced various hits including Part of Me, Roar and Dark Horse by Katy Perry, Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus, Sugar and Girls Like U by Maroon 5, Sweet But Psycho and Kings & Queens by Ava Max.
Facts & Figures
Global value of music copyright grew 2.7% to $32.5bn in 2020 (Music Ally)
“The driver of these changes is streaming: Its contribution to labels, publishers, and their CMOs has risen, from 22% in 2016 to 54% in 2020,” wrote Page. “Streaming now accounts for the majority of copyright’s value. Fifteen years ago, streaming revenue didn’t even exist in the IFPI report.”
Publishers Quarterly: Sony Has Sweet Quarter With Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ (Billboard)
For the second straight quarter, Sony Music Publishing ruled both the Top Radio Airplay and the Hot 100 Songs charts. The period from July 1 to Sept. 30 marked the company’s eighth time topping both tallies at once since Billboard instituted the Hot 100 Songs chart in 2019.
Royalties & CMOs
UK’s Copyright (Rights and Remuneration of Musicians) Bill revealed (Music Ally)
We’ve known since June that Kevin Brennan, one of the MPs on the DCMS committee that held the UK’s inquiry into streaming economics earlier this year, was preparing a ‘private member’s bill’ tackling some of the issues. Today it has been published, meaning we can all see what he’s aiming for.
India moves up the global music-rights collections rankings (Music Ally)
Indian royalty collection society the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) banked Rs172.6 crore (around $23.2m) in the financial year ended March 2020.
TikTok strikes multi-year music licensing deal with and APRA AMCOS (MBW)
This agreement will allow for the collection of digital mechanical and performance royalties for APRA AMCOS’ 111,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in Australia and New Zealand.
ECSA publishes fee and master point guidelines for songwriters (Music Ally)
It’s a set of ‘fee and master point guidelines for songwriters based on case studies and opinions from members DPA, The Ivors Academy and VERSO.
Finance & Investment
Synchtank raises $5.8m in Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures (MBW)
With the commercial release of its speciality Royalty accounting platform IRIS at the beginning of 2021, Synchtank now offers an end-to-end solution, from asset, metadata, and rights management to royalty collection.
Why the ’80/20 rule’ will be crucial to Hipgnosis’ mission to buy music catalogs in future (MBW)
Blackstone and the Hipgnosis Songs Capital fund have agreed that, as an ongoing rule, if Hipgnosis Songs Fund wishes to co-invest on any of these deals, HSF will acquire 20% of the acquired rights, while HSC will acquire the remaining 80%.
For a fund with over $1bn to spend on music rights, Tempo is rather quiet. It likes things that way. (MBW)
New CEO Josh Empson says that Tempo is actually quietly and efficiently building a catalog of what he terms “modern masters”.
Warner Music Group just raised $535 million to buy… something. (MBW)
According to a fresh SEC filing spotted by MBW, Warner intends to “use the net proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the aggregate cash consideration for potential acquisitions by [WMG] of certain music and music-related assets”.
Sting Shopping Song Catalog for $250 Million-Plus, Universal Said to Be in Lead (Variety)
Sting is in advanced talks to sell his song catalog for upwards of $250 million, multiple sources tell Variety. While some sources say that Universal Music Publishing is in the lead, others say the catalog may remain with Sony Music Publishing.
Interesting Reads
Profiling Publishing’s Pandemic Performance (Synchblog)
As CISAC releases its latest figures, Eamonn Forde examines how the music publishing industry fared during the pandemic and where future growth lies.
Meet the executive who was investing in music rights long before it was fashionable. (MBW)
Darren Michaelson tells us what he’s observed from his front-row seat to the music M&A market in the past half-decade – and explains why he’s so bullish about music’s growing value in the future.
How Music Created Silicon Valley (The Honest Broker)
The tech titans couldn’t have built their empires without songs—and now they are destroying the cultural ecosystem that made them rich.
Feed Media Group COO Lauren Pufpaf on Bringing Licensed Music to the Next Generation of Tech Companies (Synchblog)
We recently caught up with COO Lauren Pufpaf to discuss how the company is helping businesses use music to drive revenue and engagement while ensuring rights holders get paid.
Josh Van Valkenburg promoted to EVP, Creative, at Sony Music Publishing Nashville (MBW)
Van Valkenburg will be responsible for leading the team’s A&R strategy, supporting SMP Nashville’s roster, developing new talent, and delivering new opportunities for the company’s songwriters.
Daniel Lang promoted to VP, International Digital Licensing & Society Relations at Warner Chappell (MBW)
During his time at the publisher, he’s expanded its multi-territory licensing strategy and strengthened relationships with key partners such as Amazon, Deezer, Facebook, Spotify and YouTube, says the company.
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