BlackRock andWarner MusicGroup have invested $750 million, in partnership with Influence Media, to acquire music-rights catalogs from female and diverse artists, a source confirms to PvNew.
Rather than joining the fray pursuing catalogs of iconic, older white-male artists like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie, the female-led Influence, which was founded by Lylette Pizarro (formerly a partner at RPM GRP) and Lynn Hazan (formerly CFO and GM of Epic Records) is focusing on newer, active catalogs, and plans to work with the artists, which will retain a stake in their work.
While companies like Hipgnosis Songs also have invested in what are called “shallow” (i.e. more recent) catalogs from contemporary hitmakers like Jeff Bhasker, this partnership has already invested $300 million in 20 catalogs, including Puerto Rican powerhouse songwriter-producer Tainy, known for his work with Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Rosalía, Shawn Mendes and Cardi B’s “I Like It.” The news was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.
It has also acquired a stake in the hitmaking team the Stereotypes (who have scored hits with Bruno Mars), Jessie Reyez (Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris and Sam Smith), and Skyler Stonestreet (Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande).
While many players in the catalog-investment game focus nearly exclusively on established, proven catalogs, such as Primary Wave, Influence sees opportunity in less-traveled territory.
Lylette Pizarro, Influence Media founder and co-managing partner with Lynn Hazan (formerly CFO and GM of Epic Records), tells the Journal, “What we’re seeing now is newer titles behaving differently than they have historically,” she said, singling out videogames and other less traditional avenues as potentially open fields for different genres of music.
“How do we approach the gaming industry so they’re using more country music and specifically using works in which we’ve invested?” she said.
The move finds both BlackRock, which is partnered with Primary Wave and others, and Warner, one of the world’s three largest music companies, moving deeper into the investment space. In 2019 Warner launched Tempo Music Investments with backing from Providence Equity Partners, andlast year reportedly had racked up $1 billion.
