You’ve heard of Hipgnosis. You’ve heard of Round Hill. And you’ve heard of Shamrock Capital.
But have you heard of Vine Alternative Investments?
That’s the financial asset manager whose name will be on the lips of the global music rights industry today – as it acquires one of the most valuable publishing catalogs in modern music.
Vine, which has invested close to $1.4 billion of capital in the media and entertainment sector to date, has today announced that it has acquired the song catalog of Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum selling producer, songwriter and DJ, Calvin Harris for an undisclosed fee.
The catalog of more than 150 songs includes numerous chart-topping singles and collaborations with artists including Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Big Sean, Khalid, and Pharrell Williams among many others.
Sources suggest Vine paid in the region of $100m for Harris’s song portfolio.
Sony/ATV will continue administration services for the catalog.
As one of the most successful artists of all time and the most played Scottish artist of the 21st century, Harris has garnered a number of top music awards and nominations including 17x Brit Award nominations (2x wins in 2019 for Producer of the Year and Best Single for One Kiss), 14x MTV VMA nominations (4x wins), and 5x Grammy nominations (1x win in 2013 for Best Music Video for We Found Love).
Also in 2013, Harris received the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year, and this past year won Most Performed Work for Giant with Rag’n’Bone Man.
“We are very comfortable that they will be great stewards of the catalog.”
To date, Harris, who is managed by Mark Gillespie at Three Six Zero, has over 30 billion combined audio and video streams in his career history, making him one of the most viewed artists on YouTube and one of Sony Music‘s biggest streaming artists.
Vine states that the acquisition immediately bolsters its catalog library following the acquisition of Sean Douglas’s catalog earlier this month “with the aim to allow Vine the unique opportunity to leverage its IP and relationships across the entertainment industry”.
Since its inception in 2006, Vine claims to have “successfully derived synergies by marrying content from its film and television libraries with operating initiatives of companies”.
Vine is the controlling shareholder of both Village Roadshow Entertainment Group and EuropaCorp SA.
Calvin Harris was advised by Laurie Soriano at King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, Thomas St. John at Thomas St. John and Mark Gillespie at Three Six Zero.
Vine was advised by Michael Poster at Michelman & Robinson and Danny Strick at Chase the Dragon.
“The addition of Calvin Harris hits across multiple genres to our catalogs is a continuation of our pursuit of building a multi-genre media ecosystem that not only respects, but honors the artists we partner with.”
Rob Amir, Vine
Mark Gillespie, Calvin’s long-time manager and Chief Executive Officer of Three Six Zero said: “Vine’s process was extremely smooth.
“We valued their quick response time, exceptional knowledge of the space and straight-forward approach.
“We are very comfortable that they will be great stewards of the catalogue,”
Rob Amir, Vine’s partner in charge of music sector investments,” added: “We approach the music space the same way we have always approached the film and TV space, with an eye for and an appreciation of, the world’s most iconic content.
“The addition of Calvin Harris hits across multiple genres to our catalogs is a continuation of our pursuit of building a multi-genre media ecosystem that not only respects, but honors the artists we partner with.”
