Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.
It’s been an eventful week in the global rights acquisitions space.
On Thursday (September 29), we learned that Concord has acquired the publishing and recorded music catalogs of Phil Collins and his Genesis bandmates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford.
Citing sources, TheWall Street Journalreported the ‘megadeal’ to be valued at more than $300 million.
The deal follows Concord’s recent purchase of the assets of HitCo Entertainment, and its eight-figure acquisition of Australia-based music publisher Native Tongue.
Elsewhere, Stockholm-based Pophouse Entertainment announced an agreement with the family and estate of Avicii (Tim Bergling) to buy 75% ownership of the late superstar’s master recordings and publishing.
The Bergling family will continue to be closely involved in Avicii’s music as a minority owner of a 25% stake, in addition to forming a JV with Pophouse.
This week also brought news of a new Singapore-based fund that’s launched to buy catalogs in Asia with an initial raise of USD $100 million.
Managed by Prime Asia Asset Management, and based in Singapore, the fund is headed up by widely respected music industry veteran Chee Meng Tan (founder and Group CEO).
The new firm’s leadership team also includes Garand Wu (President, Greater China), the former Managing Director of Universal Music (China).
Also this week, Apple pulled Russia’s VK apps from its app store, while BMG booked out one of Berlin’s most renowned theaters every night until the end of 2024.
This time, the company has snapped up the publishing and recorded music catalogs of Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, as well as the publishing and recorded music catalog from their years in the band Genesis.
Citing ‘people familiar with the transaction’, The Wall Street Journal reports that the ‘megadeal’ is ‘valued at over $300 million…’
Pophouse Entertainment, the Swedish entertainment company led by former Universal Music Sweden Managing Director Per Sundin, has acquired a 75% interest in the masters and publishing catalog of Avicii.
The deal follows the launch of the Avicii Experience interactive tribute museum in Stockholm in February that was borne out of a partnership between the family and estate of Avicii (Tim Bergling), and Pophouse CEO Sundin, who first signed Avicii as CEO of Universal Sweden in 2010.
Pophouse disclosed the latest agreement in a joint release with the Tim Bergling Foundation on Wednesday (September 28), without revealing the financial terms of the transaction…
The global music rights acquisitions space’s biggest players have been predominantly based in the US and Europe to date.
But over in Asia, new big-money funds have started to make some serious noise over the past few months.
In June, for example, Seoul-based Beyond Music, which claims to be Asia’s largest single music IP asset management company, set out plans “to conquer the global music IP market”. The firm said it expects to have 1 trillion South Korea Won ($800m) worth of assets under management by the end of this year.
Now, MBW can reveal that a new Asia-focused fund just entered the space and it’s launched with an initial raise of USD $100 million…
Apps operated by Russia-based tech giant VK have been removed from Apple’s app store globally, including VKontakte, Russia’s answer to Facebook.
In addition to the VKontakte, The Verge reports that VK-owned music app VK Music has also been pulled by Apple, along with VK apps Mail.ru, and Youla classifieds.
Citing an Apple spokesperson, The Verge reports that the apps have been removed in response to new UK sanctions on Russian-owned companies…
This is interesting: BMG has just took another big step towards becoming a serious player in live entertainment in Germany.
On Thursday (September 29), the Bertelsmann-owned company has announced that it has booked out one of Berlin’s most renowned theaters, the 1,600-seat Theater des Westens (TdW), every night until the end of 2024.
BMG says it’s done so to “provide a home to its growing live events business”.
In particular, the music company says it’s going to use the theater to host both its “growing roster of stage musicals” plus Vegas/Broadway-style residencies from artists (à la Springsteen on Broadway)…
