Blog: music publishers

Music publishing catalogues are gaining momentum fast as an asset class for institutional investments, with transactions ranging from large catalogue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) through to investment vehicles for songwriters’ shares such as the Hipgnosis Fund and Royalty Exchange.

Music Business Worldwide recently ran a story on how Apple has proposed a standard streaming rate for songwriters, with Google and Spotify apparently resistant. Of course, Apple can afford to run Apple Music at a loss and has a strategic imperative for making it more difficult for Spotify to be profitable, so do not assume that Apple’s intentions here are wholly altruistic.

Florence and the Machine’s performance of  Jenny of Oldstones,  which appeared over the closing credits of the April 21st HBO’s Game Of Thrones episode, has  registered the most Shazams in 24 hours ever.

Songwriter royalties have always been a pain point for streaming, especially in the US where statutory rates determine much of how songwriters get paid.  The current debate over Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and Google challenging the Copyright Royalty Board’s proposed 44% increase illustrates just how deeply feelings run.

Friday’s news that catalogue acquisition business Hipgnosis Songs Fund is set to float on the London Stock Exchange, having already raised around $260 million, reflects a booming market for music catalogues.