Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we be sure that you caught the 5 greatest tales to hit our headlines over the previous seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their earnings and cut back their touring prices.
The increase in music asset-backed securities got here into sharp focus this week, with information that Harmony closed its newest ABS transaction, which noticed the music firm elevate $850 million.
We additionally realized this week that Duetti raised $80 million by an ABS transaction, which the corporate described as the primary securitization backed by indie music rights.
Talking of music investments, a brand new Kroll Bond Ranking Company report valued the Hipgnosis Songs Fundcatalog at $2.36 billion, round $150 million greater than HSF’s enterprise worth when Blackstone acquired it.
Elsewhere within the trade, it was a busy week for Common Music Group, which launched its Q3 earnings on Thursday (revenues at USD $3.15 billion, up 4.9% YoY at fixed forex) and introduced that EVP, CFO and President of Operations Boyd Muir has been promoted to the newly created function of Chief Working Officer.
UMG additionally introduced a strategic partnership with AI music startup KLAY, and its Virgin Music Group division made one other main worldwide acquisition, snapping up Outdustry, an artist and label companies and rights administration enterprise targeted on China and India.
Lastly, Reuters stories {that a} US appeals courtroom dominated on Friday (November 1) that Ed Sheeran’s hit single Pondering Out Loud didn’t illegally copy Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, siding with a lower-court choose’s prior dismissal of the lawsuit from plaintiff Structured Asset Gross sales.
In July, funding large Blackstone acquired Hipgnosis Songs Fund‘s belongings from HSF’s then-public shareholders in a transaction value USD $1.584 billion.
In line with MBW’s evaluation, that transaction – once you think about HSF’s debt – gave HSF’s portfolio of 45,000 songs an approximate enterprise worth of USD $2.20 billion.
That very same portfolio (initially amassed between 2018 and 2021 by ex-Hipgnosis boss Merck Mercuriadis) has simply been re-valued, courtesy of a brand new report from Kroll Bond Ranking Company.
And guess what? It not solely means that the songs acquired by Mercuriadis at HSF have considerably grown in worth – it additionally means that Blackstone bought a little bit of a cut price when it purchased them…
Harmony has efficiently closed its newest asset-backed securities (ABS) transaction, which sees the corporate elevate $850 million in debt financing by a non-public securitization backed by its catalog of music rights.
The corporate mentioned on Monday (October 28) that the transaction would “gasoline strategic progress and acquisition[s]” and that it underscores its “ongoing effort to strategically develop and monetize its music belongings and place the corporate as a consequential pressure within the music trade”.
Harmony’s ABS transaction is securitized by royalties from its catalog of over 1 million compositions, grasp recordings, and associated belongings together with works recorded by The Beatles, Carrie Underwood, Low cost Trick, Creed, Genesis, Kiss, Mike + The Mechanics, Otis Redding, Phil Collins, Plain White T’s, R.E.M., R.E.O. Speedwagon, and The Rolling Stones…
Common Music Group has printed its monetary outcomes for the three months to the top of September.
The headline determine from the world’s largest music rights firm’s Q3 outcomes: UMG generated revenues of EUR €2.870 billion (USD $3.15bn) through the quarter throughout all of its divisions (together with recorded music, publishing and extra). That Q3 income determine was up 4.9% YoY at fixed forex.
Amongst UMG’s different Q3 highlights was an 8.2% YoY soar within the firm’s subscription streaming revenues.
On the corporate’s quarterly earnings name, Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge introduced that Boyd Muir, EVP, CFO and President of Operations at UMG, has been promoted to the newly created function of Chief Working Officer…
Virgin Music Group, Common Music Group‘s international indie artist and label companies division, has acquired once more.
This time, VMG has swooped for Outdustry, an artist and label companies and rights administration enterprise targeted on China, India and different “high-potential markets”.
The deal marks the newest international M&A transfer from Common‘s Virgin Music Group, and follows the acquisition of Saban Music Latin in January.
As a part of the deal, Outdustry founder Ed Peto has been named Senior Vice President of Worldwide Technique at Virgin Music Group, whereas additionally persevering with his function as CEO of Outdustry…
As reported by Reuters, a US appeals courtroom dominated on Friday (November 1) that Ed Sheeran’s hit single Pondering Out Loud didn’t illegally copy Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, siding with a lower-court choose’s prior dismissal of the lawsuit from plaintiff Structured Asset Gross sales.
In Could 2023, US District Decide Louis Stanton dismissed the case introduced ahead by Structured Asset Gross sales LLC, reversing the unique ruling that the lawsuit deserved to be heard by a jury.
Decide Louis Stanton is identical choose who presided over a separate case involving the identical tracks by Sheeran and Gaye. The jury in that case dominated in favor of Sheeran towards the property of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.
