Good morning, WMV continue the series on Catalogues as we update you on the latest developments in music rights acquisitions.
Here is what we know so far:
Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the London Stock Exchange company leading the charge to buy music catalogues at the dawn of the pandemic has the Church Of England CCLA as an investor. Hipgnosis has the rights to 23 out of the top 100 most streamed songs in the Spotify’s ‘billions club’ including a 20% share in Rockabye by Clean Bandit featuring reggae singer Sean Paul and Ann Marie. Also in their catalogue are the rights to hardcore songs from 50 Cent, Interscope founder Jimmy Iovine (who funded the careers of Tupac, Dr. Dre, Death Row Records, and No Doubt and others), Nelly, Pusha T, WuTang Clan front man RZA, and Rick James and more.
From the artists point of view they carry the burden of society’s degrade and have to defend their positions as valuable citizens because cultural guardians lay the crime problems at their feet. In Jamaica and elsewhere, seldom do the beneficiaries of violent or salacious music ever get placed in the spotlight for the effect the music they own, may have on society.
Trap Dancehall act Intence, who is signed to VP Records has echoed the long held sentiment that he sings about what is going on in his environment, and says it is out of desperation and for wanting a better life, that he expresses himself on behalf of his community.
Meanwhile there is a new class of investor seeking ownership of music who never existed before says Matt Pincus, founder of SONGS. Pincus has a holding company named MUSIC, with US Bank LionTree. This amoral relationship between investors, labels, rights holders and artists have become stronger as music gets evaluated as an asset class that can withstand the test of time, fluctuating inflation and interest rates.
Church Of England CCLA Investment Management has £7bn in assets for 30,000 charities and are putting their funds towards buying and owning songs that are explicitly describing sex, drugs, acts of violence among other anti-religious rhetoric but they are not alone.
“Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich,” from Leonard Cohen’s 1988 hit “Everybody Knows” is owned by Private Equity major player Blackstone whose chief executive is the Jewish raised Stephen Schwarzman. Blackstone pumped a billion dollars into Hipgnosis and Schwarzman personally made more than a billion dollars last year as he packaged the future earnings of songs against hundreds of millions of debt according to the Financial Times. The company earns money every time Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” is played at a football match.
On Pusha T’s 2011 “Fear Of God” album he raps on the song “I Still Wanna Rock” which is now owned by Hipgnosis and invested in by the Church Of England Fund CCLA:
“Cocaine parties like the 70s, I cater that
You know what fame is?
Sitting with the woman of your dreams and forgetting what her name is
You know what pain is?
Flushing two bricks and have a nigga try to strain it out the drainage”
On 50 Cent’s “I’ll Whip Your Head Boy” from his 2005 debut album “Get Rich Or Die Trying” released by Shady/Aftermath he raps violence inciting lyrics in a chanting chorus that perhaps could have been a useful soundtrack during the crusades era.
“I’ll whip ya head boy, you know I willI’ll whip ya head boy, with the back of the steelI’ll whip ya head boy, your cap could get peeledI’ll whip ya head boy, your ass could get killed”
These are just two examples of violent lyrics invested in by CCLA but there are many more among Hipgnisos 65000 songs catalogue.
In theory these rap songs are banned from the radio and television airwaves in Jamaica and even in the U.K. where the Church of England and Hipgnosis are based.
Jamaica’s Broadcasting Commission, the entity tasked with regulating the radio and television in the island issued a directive recently banning all songs that promote illegal activities such as ‘chopping’(scamming) and the use or “abuse of drugs including molly.”
The statement issued on October 11, under the heading “BROADCAST COMMISSION ISSUES DIRECTIVE ON SONGS PROMOTING ILLEGAL ACTIVITY” outlines that television and radio stations operating in the island should halt “any audio or video recording, live song, or speech which promotes and/or glorifies scamming. Illegal use or abuse of drugs (e.g. ‘Molly’), illegal or harmful use of guns or other offensive weapons, “jungle justice” or any other form of illegal or criminal activity.”
COE’s Fund has been around since 1958 and it professed on its website that the investment fund is “suitable for all Church of England charity’s long-term funds, where the charity is looking for a good level of distributions and long-term protection from inflation,” and it “aims to provide a long-term total return comprising growth in capital and distributions.” The asset management company invites any charitable organization “with objects closely connected to the work of the Church of England” to be part of the fund.
Morality doesn’t seem to come into play as the copyrights of Pusha T, 50 Cent and others continue to make up the profitable portfolio of the British Clergy and billionaire’s bottomline, but still misguided local authorities and some players in the traditional music business push for ‘radio friendliness’ as the means for making valuable and lasting music, never mind that there are new means of measurement, in fact there always were.
Valuing Artists, Music Catalogues & Radio Play
As far back as the 1960s Judge Dread, who was second only to Bob Marley as the most successful reggae artist in the U.K., had all of his 11 singles that entered the UK Singles Chart banned by the BBC. Dread was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica, but the BBC banned his songs because of their explicit nature and double entendres. Dread’s “Big Six” a spin off of Prince Buster’s raunchy hit Big 5 reached No. 11 in the U.K. despite receiving no radio play and the follow up “Big Seven” reached the Top 10 and stayed on the charts for 27 weeks.
Dread scored another U.K. Top 10 hit in 1978 with a reggae remake of Serge Gainsbourg’s 1969 classic “Je T’aime (Moi Non Plus).” He sold several million albums throughout his 25-plus year career. Judge Dread’s songs were released by Trojan Records whose catalogue is now owned by the German based BMG.
“Big Six”, “Big Seven” and other Judge Dread explicit songs must still have some value despite not getting any airplay because they were acquired by London Stock Exchange listed company One Media.
Buju Banton
Reggae singer Buju Banton was asked by Debbie Bissoon at the launch of his New Years Day concert Intimate, whether he would sell his 30 year catalogue of hits. He skirted the question but had a message for young artists to make music that’s more pensionable, “It’s a part of the music industry, it’s a part of the business, because this is the only industry that doesn’t come with a pension. You work for that company and that company and after 65 you tell you get a pension. Well, the music industry doesn’t have no pension. So it is incumbent on every entertainer to understand what you are doing, the value of what you are doing and work to create a value around what you are doing.” Buju went on to criticise the newer musical acts saying their music for the most part is forgettable and implore “all young artists”, who are “making songs that cannot be played on the radio” to make ‘better’ music.
Radio friendliness has its role in valuing catalogues, but artists face more serious hurdles in getting a full valuation for their music. For example when contracts regarding the ownership of the music is blurry and fragmented or the music masters for all their songs cannot be found it is difficult for investors to measure their worth. Additionally, many artists who made radio friendly hits throughout the 70 plus years of music business in Jamaica don’t own the rights to their songs or didn’t have good splits clearly outlined when they recorded the music. Having a good catalogue, fairs splits and rights ownership are important requirements for working with entities that will pay headline breaking sums of money to have the rights to exploit the music.
Buju’s catalogue is among the most complex in terms of ownership and diverse in terms of content. Many of his early songs were not deemed fit for airplay because of its violent nature and explicit lyrics. This however didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most notable stars in reggae music and in 1992 he broke Bob Marley’s record for having the most No.1s in Jamaica. Buju started his career guns blazing with the albums Mr. Mention (1992) and Stamina Daddy (1993). He then dropped Voice Of Jamaica later the same year which is owned by Island Records.
Mr. Mention was originally released independently by Penthouse Records, and later reissued by PolyGram Records after he became a global superstar. The album spawns hits like “Dickie” and “Haffi Get Yuh Tonight” which are not radio friendly songs. The sophomore project also has the Buju classic “Brownin” and “Bonafide Love” feat. Wayne Wonder which made him a household name.
His career defining albums are for the most part controlled by Island Records, VP Records and his own Gargamel Music label. His 1995 release “Til Shiloh”, is under Island Records. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 25 years after its release on July 18, 2020.
Inna Heights, first released in 1997, is published by Island Records and VP Records controls the 10 year anniversary remastered version according to iTunes credits. VP also has Friends For Life and Rock indie label Anti Inc. controls the publishing for his 2000 album Unchained Spirit. The albums “Too Bad,” “Rasta Got Soul,” and the Grammy winning project “Before The Dawn” are fully owned by Buju’s own Gargamel Music as of November 2022. His last album Upside Down 2020 is also owned by Gargamel Music under exclusive license to Roc Nation.
Streaming, Investors and Music
As streaming becomes more integrated worldwide, music copyrights like Buju’s catalogue continue to increase in value and old songs are now finding favor with new audiences with new trends and technology like TikTok and YouTube. Streaming gives old hits in all genres new life. Specialist funds, music labels and private equity groups are paying attention to this and have been avid buyers songs that have a long shelf life.
All over America and Europe, legendary musicians and rights holders like Neil Diamond, Neil Young, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Stevie Nicks have sold or are in the process of selling their life’s work for eye-popping sums of money: The James Brown Estate reportedly walked away with $90 million from Primary Wave after a fifteen year contentious internal battle. Primary Wave Music is a New York company that specializes in marketing estates and song catalogs, bought the assets of the Brown estate, including music rights, real estate and the control over Brown’s name and likeness.
In Hip Hop younger musicians and rappers like Lil Wayne cashed out his entire Young Money catalogue including Drake and Nicki Minaj for $100 million to Universal Music Group.
Future recently sold his publishing in a deal said to be worth $65 million to Influence Media Partners. The sale includes 612 titles from 2004 to 2020.
Universal Music Group also dropped a cool $300 Million in the same period to purchase the entire songwriting catalog of Bob Dillon in one of the biggest acquisitions ever of a single act’s publishing rights, per New York Times.
BBC reported that Tina Turner sold the rights to her music catalogue for $50 million dollars, including hits like The Best and Nutbush City Limits, to music publishing company BMG. Billboard Magazine reported in January that Columbian Superstar Shakira had sold 100% of her music publishing rights to the Merck Mercuriadis owned Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
Merck Mercuriadis, the front man for Hipgnosis recently did a share buy back but he told World Music Views that he would buy reggae music catalogues. Sherrese Clarke Soares, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and chief of HarbourView Equity Partners says, music is a sure bet to invest. She joined with Apollo Global Management to invest $1bn in music acquisition.
“It’s safe retirement dollars to really put to work,” she told the Financial Times in January this year.
Soares, named a Wallstreet Journal Woman To Watch has already snatched up 35 catalogues including $100 million to acquire Despacito artist Luis Fonsi’s mostly spanish sing alongs and $40 million to acquire Usher’s share of Justin Beibers catalogue. HarbourView also own songs from rapper Tech N9ne, George Jones and Trey Songz.
With no reggae announcements yet she says, “I want to be the platform that sees the value in all these genres that live outside of legacy rock.”
“We can give a really good return for that type of risk. It’s safe retirement dollars to really put to work,” said Soares to the Financial Times as she goes on the hunt for music and media with a billion dollar check book.
