HarbourView Private Equity is celebrating the 8 Billion views milestone achievement of “Despacito” on YouTube. The song originally written by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Panamanian singer Erika María Ender Simoes was partly acquired by HarbourView in a $100 million deal for Fonsi’s catalogue.
The company posted on their social media: “Luis Fonsi’s 2017 global smash “Despacito” has ranked #2 on the YouTube Most Watched Videos of All Time. The music video has acquired 8 Billion views since its premiere with over 4 million comments!”
Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You is the closest in music numbers on Youtube with 5.8 billion views.
HarbourView’s founder Sherrese Clarke Soares, is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who got $1bn from Apollo Global Management to invest in music acquisition.
Fonsi posted on his social media a clip of the music video with the caption:
Who knew that the tune on my guitar that morning in my house would be heard in so many places, by so many people. Almost 6 years and I still can’t believe it!. The word THANK YOU stays small! 8 billion, how nice does that sound
Impossible to do it alone, impossible to name them all but here I go… Thank you Daddy Yankee, you are great! Erika, Andrés, Mauricio, Carlos Perez, Zuleyka, Danny, Tony, Universal, Rondi. Thank you Justin Bieber for joining this wonderful journey. Thank you Puerto Rico and my beautiful people from La Perla who received us with so much love that day, I will never forget it.
Although all of Fonsi real name is Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero’s catalogue is now owned by HarbourView Equity Partners, files uncovered by WMV showed that his chart toppers globally are the subject of a litigation brought by the production company of dancehall producer duo Steely & Clevie. The company filed a copyright infringement lawsuit stating that several songs recorded by the Reggaeton singer infringed upon their intellectual property rights.
The lawsuit, discovered by WMV was filed in the California Central District court last year October and according to the documents had to be resubmitted in March. Fonsi’s Despacito, Bésame, Calypso with Stefflon Don, Date La Vuelta with Sebastián Yatra, Nicky Jam, Échame La Culpa, Imposible, Perfecta, Sola, and Vaciois are alleged to have original elements from Steely and Clevie’s Fish Market riddim A.K.A the Dem Bow riddim made popular by Shabba Ranks with a song of the same name. One half of the duo Steely, died in 2009 in New York at age 47.
Along with Fonsi, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Music, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, are part of the suit.
Fonsi’s lawyers have responded to the suit in the documents obtained by WMV that their client did not engage in any type of infringement, and that “there is no similarity between the works.” They also deny having sufficient information to respond to the suit.
The remix for “Despacito” with Justin Bieber reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 where it stayed for 16 consecutive weeks 5 years ago. “Despacito” also topped the Hot Latin Songs chart for a record 56 (non-consecutive) weeks, spending the most weeks at No. 1 for any title since the chart’s inception in 1986 according to Billboard.
In 2018, ‘Despacito’ earned the Guinness World Record for being the first video to reach 5 billion YouTube views.
Even with an unsettled suit in the distance, HarbourView’s leading lady Sherrese Clarke Soares says investing in music catslogues are worth the investment: “It is safe retirement dollars to really put to work,” she told the Financial Times in January this year.
Soares who was named a Wallstreet Journal Woman To Watch has already snatched up 35 catalogues through HarbourView-Apollo partnership. Other than Luis Fonsi’s song book her company spent $40 million to acquire Usher’s share of Justin Beibers catalogue. HarbourView also owns songs from rapper Tech N9ne, George Jones and Trey Songz.
With no direct reggae catalogue announcements, the second generation Jamaican 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.
