Finance

Hipgnosis Songs kept busy over the holiday: Not 24 hours after the fast-growing company announced that it acquired Jimmy Iovine’s production catalog, it announced it has acquired the music publishing rights of Lindsey Buckingham, best known for his work with Fleetwood Mac.

Source: Fleetwood Mac Vet Lindsey Buckingham Sells Publishing Catalog to Hipgnosis Songs

If the recent big-money acquisitions are anything to go by, catalogue – both recording and publishing – has never been valued higher. Hipgnosis is splashing hundreds of millions of dollars on the composition rights of big-name songwriters as fast as it can raise the money, and the $300m sale of Taylor Swift’s recordings to a private equity company is an intriguingly murky high-stakes tale.

Source: Experts panel: the secrets to unlocking the value of music catalogues

Los Angeles-based Iovine is best known as the founder of Interscope Records, as well as the co-founder of Beats By Dre, which sold to Apple for $3bn in 2014. Iovine has also racked up an impressive list of credentials as a producer and engineer down the years. He rose to prominence as an engineer in the 1970s, working with John Lennon (Walls & Bridges, Rock & Roll) and Bruce Springsteen (Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town).

Source: Jimmy Iovine sells producer catalog royalties to Hipgnosis (so he can build a school)

Roku, which sells the most popular streaming-media player in the U.S., is pushing aggressively into content with its own ad-supported app, the Roku Channel, which offers movies and shows produced by other companies. A deal with Quibi would give Roku a roster of exclusive programming.

Source: WSJ News Exclusive | Roku Nears Deal to Buy Rights to Quibi’s Content

Pro Music Rights is preparing a Spotify-style direct public offering comprised of 910 million shares, per a new SEC filing. Pro Music Rights didn’t address the development with a formal statement. However, a 68-page-long Form S-1, submitted to the SEC on December 29th, sheds additional light on the nuances of the stock listing – which, to be sure, “is not being underwritten by any investment bank.”

Source: PRO Music Rights Is Preparing a Spotify-Style Direct Public Offering

Studios are releasing films simultaneously to streaming platforms and on big screens. “Wonder Woman 1984” producer Charles Roven says the theatrical model is the lifeblood of franchise films. “People want the spectacle so that’s why you spend the money. They come to see it. That generates the profits,” he said.

Source: Superhero Film Franchise Creators Nervous of World Without Big-Screen Debuts

If you read superhero comics today, you’ll find a lot of ink dedicated to the awe inspired by the versions of our best (and worst) selves in capes and costumes. But if you like to watch movies, you might be forgiven for regarding costumed do-gooders less as deities and more as corporate overmen forcibly changing the way we consume entertainment, whether we like it or not.

Source: Opinion | Why a movie like ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ doesn’t have to be great to be a success

Spotify has set the trend of music streaming platforms acquiring podcast companies in the past two years, spending a total of over $600m to snap up the likes of Gimlet, Parcast, The Ringer and Anchor FM. Now another music streaming heavyweight has moved into this territory, with a headline-grabbing buyout.

Source: Amazon Music to buy podcast company Wondery, taking fight to Spotify

For Hollywood, one particular element of the package that will be of great relief is the Save Our Stages initiative, a $15 billion aid package shepherded through Congress by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and John Cornyn and championed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The initiative will provide grants to entertainment businesses such as live venues and small, independently owned movie theaters.

Source: Entertainment Industry to Get $15 Billion in Aid as Part of Stimulus Bill