M&A

Direct Investments in Rights-Tech Companies Hit $95 Million in First Half of 2017

RightsTech companies have raised nearly $95 million in direct investment so far in 2017, according to data compiled by the RightsTech Project, kicked off by Dubset Media’s $4 million Series A round in February.

That figure does not include outright acquisitions, such as Blackstone Capital’s acquisition of performance rights organization SESAC in January, which included the rights management technology platform Rumblefish along with the Harry Fox Agency.

The bulk of the rights-tech investments this year is accounted for by Kobalt Music’s $75 million Series D raise in May, led by Hearst Entertainment, bringing its total capitalization to more than $100 million to date. As with Blackstone’s acquisition of SESAC, much of the investment in Kobalt is premised on the perceived asset value of the rights it controls. But part of the valuation reflects Kobalt’s ability to monetize those rights using its technology platform.

Growing investor interest in the direct monetization of rights is also reflected in Royalty Exchange’s $6.4 million convertible note offering, which more than doubled the company’s original target of $3 million. Denver-based Royalty Exchange allows artists to offer interest in their future royalty stream to investors through the sale of royalty-backed assets.

Other notable raises this year include blockchain-based rights registry Binded (formerly Blockai), which raised $950,000 in June, bringing its total to date to $1.5 million, and music rights payment platform Stem, which raised $8 million.

Company Description Amount raised Investors
Kobalt Music rights and publishing platform $75 million Hearst Entertainment, Balderton Capital, MSD Capital
Dubset DJ remix rights clearance platform $  4 million Cue Ball Capital
Stem Music rights payment platform $  8 million Evolution Media, Aspect Ventures, Upfront Ventures.
Binded Blockchain-based rights registry for visual arts $950,000  Mistletoe, Asahi Shimbun, and Vectr Ventures
Royalty Exchange Music-royalty based asset exchange $ 6.4 million Convertible debt offering

Notable rights-tech direct investments in 2016, included visual arts registry and authentication platform ascribe, which raised $6 million, rights registration and marketplace platform Monegraph, which raised about $4 million, music rights management platform Revelator, which took in about $3.5 million artCOA, which raised $5 million.

More Money for Rights-tech: Dubset Mixes Up a $4M Funding Round

Music remix-rights clearance startup Dubset Media on Monday announced a $4 million Series A fundraising round as it prepares to scale up its platform to address the growing number of licensed streaming and download services looking to include DJ mixes and remixes in their catalogs.

Last year Dubset struck deals with Apple Music and Spotify to add fully cleared DJ sets to those services and plans to announce deals with additional outlets at next month’s SXSW festival, according to the company.

Dubset Media CEO Stephen White

“We’ve delivered thousands of mixes so far and we plan to ramp that up to millions and tens of millions,” Dubset CEO Stephen White told the RightsTech blog.

Dubset’s proprietary MixBANK technology identifies individual tracks within DJ mixes and then links that information with a clearance and payment platform that allows the original rights owners to get paid when those mixes are sold or streamed.

The round was led by venture firm Cue Ball Capital but also included strategic investments from MediaNet and its parent company SOCAN, which currently provide Dubset with rights data and payment infrastructure.

“We’re is excited to be a part of Dubset’s Series A funding,” MediaNet CEO Frank Johnson said in an emailed statement. “We believe MIXBank technology and the services it enables will revolutionize the way electronic music royalties are paid, and will ensure that everyone in the copyright ownership stack is paid for use in emergent listening formats like DJ mixes.”

The raise comes on the heels of private-equity firm Blackstone Group’s acquisition of performing-rights organization SESAC in January for a reported $1 billion, and adds to a growing list of recent VC and private equity investment in rights-tech startups.

The key to opening that spigot, according to White, was to broaden the conversation with potential investors to focus on rights management and clearances generally rather than keeping the focus on the music industry.

“When we started out we were very focused on music and on being a music play. That turned out to be very challenging from a fund-raising perspective,” White said. “VC’s hear ‘music’ and doors just close. They don’t want to hear about it. It was very important for us to shift our story to talk about rights management and rights clearances and not focus on music.”

Investor skepticism toward the music business stems from the industry’s well-documented difficulties in transitioning to digital platforms and the relatively poor track record that venture-backed music-tech startups have racked up over the years — a perception that persists, according to White, despite signs of renewed growth in the recorded music business in the past year.

“There’s still a big overhang in the investment community,” regarding music White said. “Most of the investment you see is in the rights management space and in acquiring catalogs” of rights. “It’s easier to understand, and the revenue is more predictable.”

Johnson added, “We believe that the future of music licensing and royalty administration will be found in strategic partnerships like the one between MediaNet and Dubset, where a combination of investment in exciting new technology combined with long-standing relationships with labels, publishers, rights societies, and artists unlocks new revenue channels for large and small rights holders around the world.”

 

A quick reminder of the power of the tech biz vs the music biz 

All together, our generous valuations of the entire major music rights industry – including both recorded and publishing catalogues – comes to $27bn.

If you had ownership of the kitty Softbank used to buy ARM, that would leave you a measly $5bn in change to pick up as much of the independent sector as you could muster. Which would be nigh on all of it. In other words, the amount Softbank just paid for ARM would, by and large, buy you the entire history of music rights. Just like that.

Source: A quick reminder of the power of the tech biz vs the music biz – Music Business Worldwide

Nettwerk sells 30-year-old publishing catalogue to Kobalt investment fund 

More than 18,000 songs developed and acquired by Nettwerk’s publishing division over the past 30 years have been bought by Kobalt Music Copyrights (KMC), MBW can reveal.

KMC is an independent investment fund established in 2011. It is advised and managed by Kobalt Capital Ltd – but operates as a separate entity to Kobalt Music Group. The vast majority of copyrights owned by Nettwerk’s publishing company will now switch to KMC, and be administered by Kobalt.

Source: Nettwerk sells 30-year-old publishing catalogue to Kobalt investment fund – Music Business Worldwide

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