US-based Tempo Music Investments has acquired a portion of Tyler Joseph’s catalog. The $1 billion backed Tempo was launched in 2019 and funded by Providence Equity Partners, a premier private equity firm specializing in the media, communications, education, software and services industries, in partnership with Warner Music Group.
Source: Tempo Music buys into music catalog of Twenty One Pilots’ singer-songwriter Tyler Joseph
Tensions between the creative community and the entertainment industry’s gatekeepers over compensation have been on the rise since spring of last year, when Covid-19 upended the way entertainment is distributed and consumed. Ultimately studios are moving toward the Netflix system—big upfront payments to talent and no profit participation; Netflix’s all-you-can-eat subscription model makes it virtually impossible to attribute revenue to a particular movie or series.
Source: Scarlett Johansson Lawsuit Stirs Debate Over Streaming-Era Movie Compensation
France-based Vivendi, parent of Universal Music Group, has sold 7.1% of that company’s share capital to Pershing Square Holdings, the investment firm managed by billionaire Bill Ackman, for $2.8 billion, with the possibility to sell him a further 2.9% by September 9, 2021. The deal values UMG — the world’s largest music company — at 35 billion Euros, or around $41 billion.
Source: Vivendi Sells 7.1% of Universal Music Group to Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square for $2.8 Billion
At stake is the lucrative power play between distributors and creators that the streaming revolution overturned. Hitmakers accustomed to decades of risk-free profit-share deals have been moping around since Netflix — followed by streaming competitors including Disney+ and Amazon — swooped into town brandishing a new kind of deal: lump sum buyouts that limit talent upside while adding value to their platforms.
Source: Let’s Make A Deal: Who’s For Sale In Hollywood And For How Much?
Spotify’s not having a great time. The streaming service faced a punishing reaction on Wall Street following its second-quarter results last month: Daniel Ek’s firm’s share price fell 5.7 percent in a day, wiping around $2.5 billion off the market cap of the company in a few short hours.
Hollywood and media industry financing sources have tended to be cyclical, with new money refreshing the old every few years. The current cycle of private equity investment, though, is bucking that history and could extend the M&A wave for years to come, dealmakers say.
Gannett Chairman and CEO Michael Reed weighs in on the state of the news industry following better than expected second quarter results. “[Facebook] is not a friend to the industry, not at all. We do over $3 billion in sales per year between subscriptions, digital marketing solutions…It’s not even a drop in the bucket what the likes of Facebook talks to us about today,” said Gannett Chairman and CEO Michael Reed on Yahoo Finance Live.
Source: Facebook still isn’t a friend to publishers: Gannett CEO
Primary Wave has now confirmed in an official media release that it has acquired expectancy interests in the estate of Prince from the late singer’s siblings. The exact percentages of those interests haven’t been disclosed, however. According to the media statement, as part of new deals Primary Wave Music has acquired an expectancy interest which encompasses assets including the singer’s publishing, master recording income stream, name, likeness, and brand.
Source: Primary Wave buys stake in Prince estate, encompassing publishing, master recording income and more
A vintage Super Mario Bros. video game has sold for $2 million, a collectibles company announced Friday, breaking the record for the most expensive video game sale that was set just weeks ago. The 1985 game, made for Nintendo’s original console, has never been opened — a rarity for old video games, said Rob Petrozzo, one of the founders of the collectibles site, Rally. An anonymous buyer purchased it, he said.
Source: A Super Mario Bros. game sells for $2 million, another record for gaming collectibles.
While actors know now that they need to negotiate terms for streaming, determining their worth is more difficult than simply looking to box office receipts. Streaming services hold their performance data extremely close to the chest, and they’re reluctant to share specifics about engagement and earnings on specific titles.
Source: Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow lawsuit has unearthed a huge problem with streaming