Brookfield tops the charts as US leads the way in music deals

Top US music deals and funds reflect the value of rights ownership as the industry continues to evolve

Private capital investors are seeing value in music rights ownership as streaming services and social media firms introduce new ways to distribute music. The US has played host to some of the largest music rights deals over the last three years.

$2bn: Private capital giant Brookfield Asset Management completed one of the largest music deals in the US in 2022 YTD with the $2bn purchase of New York-based music publisher Primary Wave. The deal gives Primary Wave $1.7bn in capital funding and offers Brookfield music rights to multiple artists, including American punk singer Joey Ramone. 

$1.1bn: Kobalt Capital, investment arm of Kobalt Music Group, sold its music rights portfolio to private equity powerhouse KKR in October 2021. The purchase of the London-based firm’s portfolio includes more than 62,000 copyrights across multiple genres, featuring songs by stars like Paul McCartney.

$300mn: Shamrock Holdings purchased Taylor Swift’s catalog from entertainment executive Scott Samuel Braun. The private equity firm is the investment arm of the Disney family, and the deal consisted of Swift’s last six albums as of November 2020.

Top 3 music funds of 2022
$785mn: Primary Wave closed its third fund, Primary Wave Music IP Fund 3, in September 2022. The fund is the firm’s third dedicated exclusively to investing in music rights ownership. Primary Wave has raised over $800mn in the last four years from their last two music IP funds, both devoted to music rights ownership.

$750mn: In February 2022, BlackRock partnered with Warner Music Group to invest in a fund to buy music rights catalogs. By the end of the first quarter, the fund had bought 20 catalogs and purchased songwriting group The Stereotypes, who have written for well-known artists like Bruno Mars, Sam Smith, and Dua Lipa. 

$500mn: Kobalt Capital, again, raised $500mn in March 2022 from the asset management arm of private bank JP Morgan Chase and global investment firm HPS Investment Partners. The capital is dedicated solely to acquiring music copyrights.

Evolution of the music industry
Are private capital music pursuits likely to persist? Music streaming services’ astonishing growth displays the value in music rights ownership. Top music streaming service Spotify is projected to reach one billion subscribers by 2030, more than double its current amount. In the last few years, the music industry has spread to social media as well, becoming a prominent feature in user videos on social apps like TikTok and Instagram. Angelo Rufino, Managing Partner at Brookfield, said, 'Strong secular growth trends, scarcity value of assets and the continued penetration of music in new forms of content delivery underpin this significant commitment to the asset class.'