Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly roundup – where we make sure you’ve caught the five biggest stories that have made headlines over the past seven days. The MBW Roundup is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their income and lower their touring costs.
There has been a lot of activity in the area of music rights mergers and acquisitions this week.
On Thursday (June 29), we learned that Grammy-nominated rapper and producer Logic had sold his music publishing catalog comprising 185 tracks in an eight-figure deal.
The company acquiring the catalog is Influence Media Partners, a US-based music and rights company founded in 2019 and led by Lylette Pizarro, Lynn Hazan, Rene McLean and Jon Jashni.
In early 2022, Influence Media Partners announced a $750 million fund to invest in what it calls “high-value compositions from diverse artists” with backing from BlackRock Alternative Investors and Warner Music Group.
Also this week, Primary Wave revealed that it has struck what it calls a “multi-million dollar” deal with George Brown, the legendary songwriter, drummer, producer and founding member of Kool & The Gang.
Meanwhile, Multimedia Music has struck a deal for a 50% stake in a music copyright and publishing catalog of Amblin Partners, the company founded by Steven Spielberg and best known for its film and television production houses, Amblin Entertainment and Amblin Television.
Additionally, SoundCloud is tackling what it calls the “Zero Plays Problem” with its new AI-powered “First Fans” feature, while Snafu Records has launched the AI-powered “Snafu Song Fund.” IA for independent artists backed by a $7 million round led by Pophouse Entertainment.
Here’s what happened this week…
1) LOGIC SELLS CATALOG TO INFLUENCE MEDIA PARTNERS IN EIGHT-NUMBER DEAL
It’s been a busy week for music rights deals, and yesterday (June 29), Influence Media Partners announced its own latest acquisition.
The company says it acquired the Grammy-nominated rapper and producer Logic’s publishing catalog of 185 tracks in an eight-figure deal.
According to Influence, the deal includes tracks including the multi-platinum single 1-800-273-8255 ft. Alessia Cara and Khalid, EVERYDAY with Marshmello, HOMICIDE ft. Eminem and 6 SUCKER FOR PAIN with Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Logic & Ty Dolla $ign ft. X Ambassadors….
2) STEVEN SPIELBERG’S AMBLIN PARTNERS SELL 50% STAKE IN MUSIC LIBRARY TO $200M MUSIC MEDIA
There’s a lot of buzz around classic movie scores right now – as rumors swirl that Warner Bros Discovery is set to strike a $500m deal to sell around 50% of its prized catalog of music. Sony would be the favorite to buy.
But that’s not the only big music deal going on in Tinseltown.
Multimedia Music, the UK-based company founded by industry veterans Phil Hope and James Gibb has just announced its latest major acquisition.
The company has reached an agreement for a 50% stake in a catalog of master music and publishing rights from Amblin Partners, the company founded by Steven Spielberg and best known for its film and television production houses, Amblin Entertainment and Amblin Tv.…
Credit: QuiteSimplyStock/Shutterstock
3) KOOL & THE GANG’S GEORGE BROWN SIGNS “MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR” CATALOG DEAL WITH PRIMARY WAVE
Primary Wave Music acquired again.
Just last week, the company announced a deal with Joey Tempest, lead singer of rock band Europe, acquiring what he says is part of his music publishing catalog, comprising five albums.
On Wednesday (June 28), Primary Wave revealed that they’ve struck what they call a “multi-million dollar” deal with legendary songwriter, drummer, producer and founding member of Kool & The Gang, George Brown.
Primary Wave says it has acquired a stake in its music publishing catalog, writer’s share, and author’s share in public performance…
4) SNAFU LAUNCHES AI-POWERED ‘SNAFU SONG FUND’ FOR INDIAN ARTISTS, BACKED BY $7M LEADED BY POPHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT
Swedish company Snafu Records has captured the industry’s attention since launching in February 2020 with $2.9 million in seed funding.
In 2021, Snafu, a record label and A&R tool that uses artificial intelligence to discover new music, completed a $6 million funding round led by Pophouse Entertainment, with participation from TheVentureCollective, Agnetha Fältskog, member of ABBA, and Savan Kotecha.
The round came shortly after the company added Per Sundin, former CEO of UMG Nordics who signed Avicii and Tove Lo, and songwriter/producer Savan Kotecha as shareholders.
Now, Snafu is announcing what it says will be a new $7 million “equity and credit” funding round.
5) SOUNDCLOUD TACKLES WHAT IT CALLS THE “ZERO PLAY PROBLEM” WITH AI-POWERED “FIRST FANS” FEATURE
For new music artists, breaking into the streaming industry is getting harder every day.
The problem, quite simply, is the volume. At last count, around 120,000 new tracks were uploaded to major streaming services every day. With so much audio content available, getting attention for just one new song can be nearly impossible for an indie artist.
The problem has become so acute that, according to data from Luminate, around 42% of all tracks uploaded to streaming services (around 67 million songs) have had less than 10 plays. And almost a quarter – 24%, or around 38 million tracks – had no plays.
And with the advent of mainstream AI music tools that boast their ability to create millions of original songs, the problem could get worse in the months and years to come.
Music streaming service SoundCloud has decided to tackle this problem on its own platform, with a trial of a new feature it calls “First Fans…”.
