Finance

Dr. Dre has reportedly sold a sizable chunk of his music rights — at a juicy multiple — to Shamrock Holdings and Universal Music Group. According to details emerging Wednesday evening (January 11th), Dre’s assets are reportedly being sold for north of $200 million, with Shamrock Holdings and Universal Music Group doing the bidding. The deals are apparently separate, though more details are expected to emerge over the next 24-48 hours

Source: Dr. Dre Selling Catalog Rights to UMG, Shamrock; $200M+ Deal

Long payment cycles have remained endemic in the music industry. While some streaming platforms like YouTube pay royalties monthly, many labels haven’t allowed that swiftness to trickle down to artists. Against that backdrop, Create Music Group is giving artists more insights and more money for their work — and paying it out faster. By partnering with Tipalti, Create Music Group has been able to modernize, centralize and consolidate payment processes with end-to-end automation.

Source: Tipalti Powers Create Music Group’s One-Month Payment Cycles

Under the newly finalized purchase, Downtown is expected to equip Curve with “expanded resources, infrastructure, and global scale,” according to execs. Meanwhile, the just-sold company will continue to service existing clients, Epitaph Records, Ingrooves, and Cooking Vinyl among them, as it’s integrated into Downtown, the involved parties indicated.

Source: Downtown Music Acquires Four-Year-Old Curve Royalty Systems

When ensuring the profitability of multi-billion dollar industries, engaging governments at the highest level is the way to get things done. The MPA and RIAA spent almost $8 million on lobbying in 2022, with copyright and piracy at the top of the agenda. Most of the 60+ lobbyists deployed are products of the government/private sector ‘revolving door’.

Source: MPA & RIAA Deployed 60+ Lobbyists in 2022, Piracy Top of The Agenda * TorrentFreak

Round Hill Music Royalty Partners has acquired the royalty income stream of Steve Lillywhite, one of the premier rock producers of the last 45 years, in a deal that includes his share of royalties from such albums as U2’s October and War; Dave Matthews Band’s Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash; and The Rolling Stones‘ Dirty Work. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Source: Round Hill Acquires Rock Producer Steve Lillywhite’s Royalty Income Stream

From Disney to Netflix to Warner Bros. Discovery, media and tech stocks were pummeled in 2022 as faith in streaming waned, global subscriber growth stalled and macroeconomic concerns forced a reckoning on content spending for entertainment’s largest players. Unfortunately, the 2023 picture doesn’t look any better so far.

Source: Media’s Annus Horribilis: Investors Batter Shares of Disney, Netflix, WB Discovery, Amazon and More in 2022

Macroeconomic headwinds have blown multiple issues in the music industry’s direction this year, from soaring interest rates to rising inflation, plus the strength of the US dollar’s impact on global markets. But the rights acquisition space hasn’t ground to a halt. In fact, two prominent names in the rights acquisition space, that both became famous for listing funds on the London Stock Exchange –  Hipgnosis and Round Hill Music – have been associated with $500 million worth of deals between them in 2022.

Source: Round Hill: We’ve spent more than $200m across 40 acquisitions in 2022

Audio content production studio Audio Up has closed its Series C funding round at what it says is a $150 million pre-money valuation. Audio Up says in a press release that it plans to use the proceeds from the round to “continue amplifying” the music side of its business, with the latest fundraise arriving nine months after it struck a joint venture with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). That agreement with UMG has focused on signing songwriters to create music for Audio Up’s original podcast programs.

Source: Podcast company Audio Up raises nearly $10m, with plans to invest funds into music side of its business

Warner Bros. Discovery updated its estimate on restructuring charges related to Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia, and said content impairment and development write-off charges could be up to $3.5 billion — $1 billion more than it previously pegged. The media company made the disclosure in an SEC filing Wednesday. WBD said it “revised certain estimates related to its restructuring and transformation initiatives” that it previously disclosed in October.

Source: Warner Bros. Discovery Says Content Write-Offs Could Be Up to $3.5 Billion, $1 Billion Over Previous Estimate

The investment comes fresh on the heels of Public Pressure’s announcement that its first music and gaming NFT project raked in $2 million within days of its release. The project was launched in partnership with decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) Moonsama, introducing music as a gaming utility for the first time inside the Moonsama gaming metaverse.

Source: Web3 music platform Public Pressure raises $6m led by blockchain-focused investor Scytale