A minimum of $5 billion was spent on music rights acquisitions in 2021. May 2022 be even larger?

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The music rights market was on hearth in 2021.

MBW estimates – primarily based on confirmed costs and data from trade sources – that a minimum of $5.05 billion was spent on catalog and music rights acquisitions throughout the 60-plus big-money offers we reported on throughout final yr.

That determine consists of offers for particular person catalogs offered by artists and songwriters, plus acquisitions of music rights portfolios (together with these owned by energetic labels/publishers) by firms from different firms.

For clarification, the latter class included offers similar to Warner Music Group‘s $400 million acquisition of 300 Leisure, Harmony’s $400 million acquisition of Downtown‘s catalog, Sony Music Group‘s nine-figure acquisitions of Todd Moscowitz’s Alamo Data and Brazilian label Som Livre, plus Kobalt‘s $1.1 billion catalog sale to KKR enterprise, Chord Music.

Near half of MBW’s estimated $5.05 billion complete sum – some $2.33 billion – was spent on acquisitions of rights instantly from artists, songwriters and/or their estates.

And the tempo (and value) of such offers is accelerating: In December alone (excluding WMG’s $400 million acquisition of 300), offers price a minimum of $720 million have been struck for artist and songwriter catalog gross sales.

A minimum of $500 million of that December tally got here from Bruce Springsteen’s confirmed sale of his whole masters-plus-publishing catalog to Sony Music Group (and Eldridge Industries), the primary time the half-a-billion greenback mark has been crossed for the catalog of a person artist.

May there be an even bigger particular person artist catalog deal in 2022? And will the huge complete quantity spent on catalogs in 2021 be surpassed this yr?

There’s a superb likelihood that it’d.

The 2022 rights M&A market kicked into motion final week Monday (January 3) with the information that Warner Music Group, by way of its Warner Chappell Music subsidiary, had acquired the worldwide music publishing rights to David Bowie’s tune catalog.

The worth of the deal was within the area of $250 million.

We additionally realized final week that US songwriter and performer John Legend had offered his songwriting catalog for an undisclosed charge to BMG and KKR.

That transaction passed off in September 2021, suggesting that MBW’s $5.05 billion estimate above may simply be the tip of the iceberg; clearly, as within the case of Legend’s sale, our quantity doesn’t take into consideration these artists/writers who offered a catalog… however determined to remain quiet about it.

As we put together for an additional probably seismic yr for the catalog offers market, under MBW has printed a giant record of just about all of the music rights acquisitions that hit MBW’s headlines in 2021, inclusive of many costs that have been confirmed or – by way of MBW sources – rumored on the time.

This record primarily shaped the idea for our headline calculations on this story.

Earlier than we get into all of that, although, a couple of essential caveats on our quantity above, and our record under:

The under is definitely an intensive record, overlaying because it does the overwhelming majority of M&A music offers coated by MBW in 2021, but it surely’s not an exhaustive one. There shall be a couple of huge cash catalog offers, for instance, that have been by no means confirmed or introduced on the behest of the author/artist in query, which seemingly add as much as a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars};
We have now discounted two enormous 2021 music biz offers from our record/calculations, on the idea that they have been acquisitions of music firms that weren’t rights-ownership-led: The primary is HYBE’s $1 billion acquisition of mega-manager Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings (which included rights by way of Massive Machine and different Ithaca holdings, however gave the impression to be primarily led by Braun’s artist administration facility); the second is Sony Music Group’s $430 million acquisition of Kobalt’s AWAL and Kobalt Neighbouring Rights, neither of which was a music rightsholder. The place potential, we additionally haven’t included acquisitions the place no underlying rights have been bought (e.g. BMG‘s acquisition of Mick Fleetwood’s private royalty stream for his recordings);
We’ve solely included offers the place the shopping for social gathering acquires a large stake within the rights in query.

And now, right here it’s: that Massive Checklist O’ Offers you noticed coated on MBW in 2021…

December 2021: a minimum of $710m in author/artist gross sales + $400m for 300 Leisure

Tempo Music acquires publishing rights from producers Stefan Forrest, Morten Ristorp and Morten Pilegaard.
Sony Music buys whole Bruce Springsteen catalog for $500+ million. Sources recommend to MBW that the full quantity paid to Springsteen for the double acquisition was round $550 million.
BMG and KKR announce first joint acquisition: The ‘whole music pursuits’ of ZZ Prime. Trusted trade consultants anticipate the KKR/BMG deal for ZZ Prime carried a big eight-figure price-tag, seemingly across the $50 million mark.
Warner pays $400 million in money to amass 300 Leisure.
Harmony Music Publishing acquires catalog of Nation singer-songwriter Andy Albert.
Reservoir acquires stake in publishing catalog of Fred Parris, Founder Of The 5 Satins.
Major Wave acquires stake in bundle of James Brown rights in $90 million deal.
Major Wave’s sizzling streak continues, as agency inks $20 million catalog deal with Survivor’s Jim Peterik.
Mojo Music & Media buys whole publishing catalog of songwriter and producer Jacknife Lee.
Spherical Hill Music acquires publishing catalog of Jellybean Benitez together with hits by Madonna and Whitney Houston.

November 2021: A minimum of $150 million in author/artist gross sales

October 2021: A minimum of $160 million in author/artist gross sales + $1.1 billion for Kobalt catalog

Major Wave buys stake in Luther Vandross publishing and grasp recording earnings stream as a part of $40 million deal.
Kobalt sells catalog to new KKR enterprise, Chord, for $1.1 billion.
Major Wave buys stake in Gerry Goffin catalog for $20 million.
Raleigh Music Publishing buys Lee Morris catalog together with hit Blue Velvet, recorded by Bobby Vinton and others.
Major Wave buys stake in Bing Crosby property in $50m+ music deal.
BMG buys bundle of Tina Turner (pictured) rights in a deal that MBW estimates to be within the $50 million-and-above class.

September 2021: A minimum of $140 million in artist/author gross sales, as Spherical Hill doubles down

Spherical Hill Royalty Fund buys The O’Jays (pictured) recordings catalog.
Spherical Hill Music Royalty Fund buys catalog from British producer and songwriter Tim Palmer.
Spherical Hill Music Royalty Fund acquires catalog of Dennis Elliott, former drummer of Foreigner.
Reservoir buys catalog of masters and publishing from Nashville’s Sorted Noise.
CTM Outlander buys New York-based publishing firm One77Music.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund has confirmed that within the April-September 2021 interval, it spent a complete of USD $260 million on music copyrights. These acquisitions included the under Christine McVie catalog, but additionally the tune catalog of the Pink Sizzling Chili Peppers, a deal which is known to have value Hipgnosis round $140 million.

August 2021: a minimum of $110m in author/artist gross sales

Major Wave buys stake in Prince property, encompassing publishing, grasp recording earnings and extra
- Major Wave acquired “100% of the inheritance” of Prince’s youngest of six siblings, Omarr Baker, in addition to 90% of sister Tyka Nelson’s stake and 100% of the stake held by Alfred Jackson. An article from the Wall Avenue Journal adopted, stating that via these offers, “Major Wave is lined as much as personal about 42%” of the legendary singer’s property, which the WSJ added is “valued someplace between $100 million and $300 million”.
Tempo Music buys into music catalog of Twenty One Pilots’ singer-songwriter Tyler Joseph.
Hipgnosis buys a catalog from Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie. Judging by declared earnings figures for the catalog – and Hipgnosis’ typical a number of as per public filings – the deal would have value round $27 million.
Spherical Hill buys publishing catalog from Sure guitarist and movie composer Trevor Rabin.

July 2021: Major Wave and Harmony preserve the M&A prepare transferring

Major Wave acquires music publishing catalog of songwriter and producer Steve Kipner.
Harmony Music Publishing acquires catalog of Grammy Award-winning songwriter Lori McKenna.
Major Wave buys 50% stake in grasp recordings of musician Chris Isaak (pictured) in ‘multi-million greenback’ deal. MBW sources recommend this one bumped into the eight figures.

June 2021: A minimum of $150 million in author/artist gross sales + Reservoir’s $100 million Tommy Boy purchase, and Sony‘s nine-figure Alamo swoop

Could 2021: A minimum of $50 million in author/artist gross sales

Hipgnosis buys catalog from Grammy-winning producer Andy Wallace.
Spherical Hill Music acquires grasp recordings from Swedish label Telegram Studios.
Affect Media Companions buys catalog from Grammy-nominated songwriter Julia Michaels.
Major Wave buys Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers catalog, together with grasp royalty earnings stream throughout Rihanna’s first seven albums in ‘multi-million deal’.
Hipgnosis acquires 105 songs from Grammy-winner Andrew Watt in eight-figure deal; MBW estimates this at “upwards of $45 million”.

April 2021: $400 million for Downtown’s catalog, as Sony spends one other $255m

Harmony buys Downtown’s owned music copyright catalog for round $400 million.
Major Wave buys catalog of Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard in ‘multi-million-dollar deal’
After launching $100m fund, Affect Media buys catalog from Grammy-nominated songwriter Ali Tamposi.
Sony Music Group spends $255 million shopping for Som Livre, Brazil’s largest non-major-owned file label.

March 2021: A minimum of $250 million in author/artist gross sales

Paul Simon (pictured) sells tune catalog to Sony Music Publishing. Sony didn’t disclose the value of the deal, however sources inform MBW it was upwards of $200 million.
Spherical Hill Music acquires publishing catalog of Nation songwriter and producer Zach Crowell.
Major Wave buys majority stake in publishing catalog of Mark Morrison in ‘multi-million greenback deal’.
Irving Azoff buys once more, as Iconic snaps up Linda Ronstadt recorded music rights.
Hipgnosis buys catalog of No one Does It Higher author Carole Bayer Sager, seemingly for round $10 million.
Attain Music buys 50% curiosity in tune catalog of Judas Priest’s Glenn Tipton.
David Crosby sells catalog to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, together with recorded music and publishing rights.

February 2021: A minimum of $100 million in author/artist gross sales + Spherical Hill’s $282 million splurge

Irving Azoff buys Seaside Boys rights in what seems to be more likely to be a $100 million-plus deal.
Major Wave buys catalog from Wilson Phillips members Chynna Phillips and Carnie Wilson.
Spherical Hill’s UK-listed fund begins shopping for, spending $282 million on hits recorded by The Beatles, Marvin Gaye and extra.
Spherical Hill acquires catalog of Large Assault members Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall.

January 2021: A minimum of $420m in author/artist gross sales + Major Wave’s $30 million Solar Data purchase

Major Wave buys legendary Solar Data in $30 million deal, together with masters for Johnny Money, Jerry Lee Lewis.
Sony/ATV indicators new take care of songwriter Mark James, acquires rights for 3 of his songs.
Clever Music Group acquires Zombies catalog in take care of Bocu Group.
Hipgnosis acquires catalog from Michael Bublé and Metallica producer Bob Rock.
Spherical Hill acquires catalog of US band Collective Soul.
Major Wave acquires catalog of Jon Lind, together with hits by Earth, Wind & Hearth and Madonna.
UMPG buys catalog of songwriter and producer Louis Bell, together with hits by Submit Malone and The Jonas Brothers.
Major Wave buys 50% stake in publishing catalog of Grammy-nominated songwriter KT Tunstall.
Spherical Hill buys catalog of Billy Duffy, songwriter and guitarist with UK rock band, The Cult.
Hipgnosis buys 100% of Shakira’s publishing catalog, spanning 145 songs.
KKR buys majority stake in Ryan Tedder catalog, marking funding large’s return to music rights possession. Reuters estimated the deal dimension at $200 million.
Spherical Hill buys catalog of Bryan Adams songwriting accomplice Jim Vallance.
Major Wave buys publishing catalog of Grammy Award-winning songwriter Dan Wilson, together with hits by Adele.
Hipgnosis acquires 50% of Neil Younger’s (pictured) tune catalog for round $150 million.
Hipgnosis absolutely acquires Lindsey Buckingham tune catalog, together with 100% author and writer share of Fleetwood Mac hits.
Jimmy Iovine sells producer catalog royalties to Hipgnosis.

Music Enterprise Worldwide

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