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.
Nostradamus would be proud.
As correctly predicted last Wednesday (October 6) on MBW’s Talking Trends podcast, this week saw investment giant KKR pour a load more money into music.
Kobalt Capital confirmed on Tuesday (October 19) that KKR has acquired the KMR Music Royalties II portfolio for approximately $1.1 billion.
The catalog contains over 62,000 copyrights across multiple genres, and KKR is teaming with co-investment partner Dundee Partners – the investment office of the Hendel family – for the transaction, which has been completed by Chord Music Partners, a platform established by KKR and Dundee.
That wasn’t the only billion dollar story to hit our headlines this week.
As reported by MBW today (October 22), Warner Music Group is now worth $10 billion more than it was a year ago, with the NASDAQ-traded music company seeing its value surge in the wake of rival Universal Music Group‘s flotation in Amsterdam in September.
It might not be all smooth sailing in major label land in the coming months, though.
That’s because over in the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a new study into music streaming, following the UK government’s response to a major label-bashing report from an inquiry about the economics of streaming in the country.
Within that report, it was recommended that the CMA should conduct a new market study into streaming, and the power of the major record companies.
On Tuesday (October 19), Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA, announced that it would be doing just that.
Elsewhere this week, HYBE has confirmed that K-pop stars BTS are leaving Sony Music and Columbia Records in the US for a new deal with Universal Music Group and Interscope, and Liberty Media has sold its entire stake in US radio giant iHeartMedia.
Here are the week’s biggest stories…
1) CONFIRMED: KOBALT SELLS CATALOG TO NEW KKR VENTURE, CHORD, FOR $1.1 BILLION
Kobalt Capital confirmed on Tuesday (October 19) that investment giant KKR has acquired the KMR Music Royalties II portfolio for approximately $1.1 billion.
KKR is teaming with co-investment partner Dundee Partners – the investment office of the Hendel family – to acquire the catalog, which contains over 62,000 copyrights across multiple genres.
The transaction has been completed by Chord Music Partners, a platform established by KKR with Dundee Partners….
2) WARNER MUSIC GROUP IS WORTH $10BN MORE THAN IT WAS A YEAR AGO
Yesterday (October 21), Warner Music Group finished the trading day with a share price of $48.06, the highest point since WMG floated a portion of its company on the NASDAQ in June 2020.
According to yCharts, WMG’s share price yesterday translated to an Enterprise Value (EV) for WMG of $27.66 billion…
The surge in Warner’s value since Universal floated in Amsterdam has been something to behold, with WMG’s EV growing by a full $4 billion in the past month alone (see above).
In the past 12 months, Warner’s EV has shot up by over $10 billion, accelerated by Universal Music Group’s own floatation (and Warner’s comparative valuation vs. UMG).
3) MAJOR RECORD COMPANIES FEEL THE HEAT AS UK COMPETITION WATCHDOG LAUNCHES NEW STUDY INTO MUSIC STREAMING
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced its firm intention to move ahead with a market study into music streaming.
The CMA defines its market studies as a “key tool to identify – and, if appropriate, to consider how best to tackle – any competition and consumer issues”.
It says that these studies can lead to a number of outcomes, including: (i) making recommendations to the UK government to change regulations or public policy; (ii) encouraging businesses in the market to self-regulate; (iii) taking consumer or competition law enforcement action against firms; (iv) making a reference for a more in-depth (“phase 2”) market investigation; or (v) giving a “clean bill of health”.
Obviously enough, the majors (and others) in the music industry will be particularly keen on avoiding (iii) and (iv)….
4) BTS TO LEAVE SONY MUSIC’S COLUMBIA: ‘WE LOOK FORWARD TO OUR NEW CHAPTER IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UNIVERSAL.’
K-pop superstars BTS have signed a new deal with Universal Music Group/Interscope for distribution and marketing in the United States and other regions.
The new deal means that the band, signed to HYBE-owned label BigHit Music in Korea, are exiting their deal with Sony Music’s Columbia Records and distribution partner The Orchard.
In an official statement provided to MBW today (October 22), a HYBE spokesperson said that the deal forms part of a “continued effort to expand the strategic partnership” with Universal Music Group, which was announced in February….
5) LIBERTY MEDIA SELLS ITS STAKE IN US RADIO GIANT IHEARTMEDIA
Colorado-based media and entertainment company Liberty Media has sold off its entire stake in US radio giant iHeartMedia.
An SEC filing from publicly-traded iHeart reveals that Liberty sold 5,941,248 class A shares on October 5 at $25.25 per share.
Founded by Chairman John Malone in 1991 and led by CEO & President Greg Maffei since 2006, Liberty still owns a 33% stake in Live Nation Entertainment…..
MBW’s Weekly 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.Music Business Worldwide
