Music Business Worldwide (MBW)

On the latest Music Business Worldwide (MBW) podcast, MBW founder Tim Ingham is joined by Sherrese Clarke Soares, founder and CEO of HarbourView Equity Partners. HarbourView has earned plenty of headlines since it was founded in 2021. Under Soares, the company has acquired premium recorded music and publishing assets performed by stars such as Wiz Khalifa, Nelly, Lady A, Florida Georgia Line and the late, great Christine McVie. One of HarbourView’s biggest deals to date is its reported $325 million purchase of SoundHouse Acquisitions LLC in 2022, a catalog that includes royalty streams for songs by artists such as Tech N9ne, George Jones and Trey Songz. HarbourView has made all of these acquisitions with the financial backing of Apollo Global Management, Inc., who partnered with Soares to launch the firm. (Apollo recently partnered with Sony Music Group via a $700 million investment which is believed to have partly funded Sony's buyout of Queen's catalog.) Over the past year, HarbourView has expanded its remit beyond music into other entertainment verticals, a good example being its investment in content company Mucho Mas Media, which produced the Netflix hit The Long Game. (It's also continued to buy in music: subsequent to Ingham's interview with Soares, Harbourview confirmed its acquisition of a select publishing catalog from Grammy-winning James Fauntleroy.) In March 2024, HarbourView announced a new source of funding for future deals, having secured $500 million in debt from KKR via a private securitization of its catalog of music royalties. Sherrese Clarke Soares is well-versed in the financialization of entertainment rights. Prior to starting HarbourView, between 2019 and 2021 she led Tempo Music, a pioneering music acquisition vehicle created with and bankrolled by Providence Equity Partners. Before that, she spent 10 years at Morgan Stanley, where – between 2017 and 2019 – she founded and led the development of the firm's entertainment, media and sports structured solutions platform. On this podcast, Ingham talks to Soares about HarbourView’s ambitions in the music and entertainment space, the apparent recent slowdown in streaming growth, the impact of elevated interest rates on music M&A, and much more. Read abridged/edited highlights from their conversation, or listen to the full podcast, here... Thanks to Voly Entertainment for the support. #Podcasts #musicbusiness #musicindustry

Spotify fires back at Drake: streaming platform says it has "no economic incentive for users to stream 'Not Like Us' over any of Drake’s tracks." Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eEGS_5xZ #Spotify #Drake

Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl talks new talent, new heights, and No.1s Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/dNPZxrgv #Warnermusicgroup

4 observations on... Downtown Music's agreed $775 million sale to Universal Music Group/Virgin Music Group #Downtown #musicdistribution #musicindustry Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gipBGxux

This week's Job of the Week is for Believe who are looking for a Director of Sales to conduct its expansion in the US. 10-15+ years of leadership experience in the US Music ecosystem preferably with labels across different genres required. Based in New York or Los Angeles. #musicindustry #musicjobs #jobsearch #jobsearching #jobhunt #jobhunting

IFPI are looking for a Senior Global Policy Advisor to further strengthen their Global Legal Policy team, based in London. The ideal candidate will have solid experience in policy work in an international setting and be an excellent communicator with proven organisations skills. 7+ years’ experience as a qualified lawyer or international relations/policy professional in a relevant area required. #musicindustry #musicjobs #jobsearch #jobsearching #jobhunt #jobhunting

Martin Mills and IMPALA accuse Universal Music Group of ‘land grab’ over Virgin Music Group's $775m Downtown Music acquisition Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/ejtEFRgE #Universalmusic #Downtown #acquisitions #VirginMusicGroup

Universal’s Virgin Music Group to buy Downtown Music for $775 million Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/enWsbzWW

Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek has sold another $28 million in SPOT stock, bringing his total share sales this year to $248.3 million – so far. Ek’s latest share sale comes in the wake of SPOT hitting an all-time high closing price of $502.38 per share on December 4. That meant the company hit a market cap of nearly $100.9 billion. Spotify’s stock price has since pulled back somewhat, and closed on Wednesday (December 11) at $476.91 per share, with a market cap of around $95.8 billion. #Spotify #DanielEk

It’s been a busy year for California-headquartered Create Music Group. In June, it closed a USD $165 million investment round led by private equity firm Flexpoint Ford, which valued Create at $1 billion. Soon thereafter, it announced the acquisition of Manchester, UK-based label and publisher Ostereo. Now the company is making another investment into a UK label and publisher, with a 50% stake in London-headquartered Enhanced Music. “Will Holland is a talented founder, and we are excited to partner with him to help accelerate Enhanced’s trajectory as a home for premier dance artists to grow and flourish,” said Adam Shomer, VP of Business Development at Create Music Group. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eiAD2xxy #musicindustry #musicbusiness