Investors spent $5.3 billion on publishing catalogs, recorded music catalogs and producer royalties in 2021.
The actual value of catalog deals in 2021 is far greater than $5.3 billion. MIDiA counted only acquisitions that were publicly reported through outlets such as, press releases and financial statements. It’s a sensible approach that misses many deals that went unpublicized because either the buyer or seller did not want attention. Also, MIDiA did not estimate deal valuations if they weren’t contained in public reports. Price tags are seldom revealed by the buyer or seller.
Of those sales tracked, rock comprised 35% of individual catalog acquisitions . Billboard reported on many such deals in 2021, including Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s purchase of producer Bob Rock’s share of producer royalties; BMG Right’s acquisition of ZZ Top’s income from recorded music and performance royalties; and Round Hill Music Royalty Fund’s deal for a 50% stake in the music publishing catalog of Trevor Rabin, a founding member of the band Yes.
Only 3% of the 131 deals were for hip hop catalog — although just one acquisition, Tommy Boy, covers 6,000 copyrights, many of them classic hip hop recordings such as House of Pain’s “Jump Around” and Coolio’s “Gangsta Paradise” — despite a quarter of U.S. consumers, a 43% of the 16-to-34 age group, being hip hop fans. Hip- hop trades at a lower multiple of revenue than pop and rock, genres investors typically view as more stable and predictable.
Prominent catalog acquisitions tend to skew toward old yet viable music with a proven track record for streaming and licensing. A fifth of the deals involved catalogs from the 1970s and included such luminaries from the era as
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