Terms of the deal are undisclosed
John Legend is the latest artist to sell his catalog. BMG and global investment firm KKR have acquired the singer/songwriter’s copyrights and publishing from late 2004 through early 2020, according to Bloomberg.
Both companies purchased a 50% financial stake in the catalog. Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, but the deal was struck in September. However, the news was just made public due to a regulatory filing.
The companies also struck a deal that will include Legend’s future compositions.
The BMG/KKR partnership was announced last this year and recently acquired ZZ Top’s catalog for $50 million. Since January 2021, they’ve completed the acquisition of a majority stake in the music catalog of songwriter, musician, producer and lead vocalist of OneRepublic, Ryan Tedder, including music publishing and recorded music rights. In the same month BMG announced it had acquired outright Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood’s interests in the band’s recordings.
KKR is investing in the catalogue through its private credit investment funds and vehicles and will own its interest in the music through its recently launched Chord Music Partners platform.
Over the last decade, BMG has been among the music industry’s most prolific acquirers of music rights, concluding more than 100 significant deals between 2009 and 2017, many of them during the time of KKR’s shareholding in BMG from 2009 to 2013. Transactions include music publishing investments in the Chrysalis, Crosstown, Cherry Lane, Bug and R2M catalogs; in recordings the Sanctuary, Mute, Skint/Loaded and Strictly Rhythm catalogs; and the Infectious, Vagrant, S-Curve, Rise and BBR Music Group labels.
In addition to its prior investment in BMG, KKR has invested in well-known music businesses such as Gibson Brands and Alpha Theta (f.k.a. Pioneer DJ). The firm also has broad experience investing in the digital media and content sectors, including investments in ByteDance (TikTok), Jio Platforms (JioSaavn), Epic Games, AppLovin, OverDrive, RBmedia, WebMD, UFC, Leonine, Next Issue Media and Nielsen.
