Music Deals -- Week 15 2021

Lupa Systems, the company set up in 2019 by James Murdoch, has invested in San Francisco-based start-up Authentic Artists, an AI-powered virtual artist platform for music, gaming and streaming applications founded by Chris McGarry, formerly in charge of music integration at Facebook’s Oculus. Authentic Artists’ other investors and advisors include Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, OVO Fund, Mixi Group, Bill Silva Ventures, Permira's Brian Ruder, Liberty Media SVP Chad Hollingsworth, C3 Presents co-founder Charlie Walker, Roblox CBO Craig Donato, Microsoft's Liz Hamren and Young Guru. “We’re very pleased to support the early growth of Authentic Artists," said Murdoch. "As technology continues to transform creativity and experiences, the opportunities for new forms of highly scalable social entertainment will be substantial. We look forward to working with this impressive team that is well positioned to lead the space.”

Universal Music Group, through Republic Records, is launching Universal Arabic Music (UAM), in partnership with The Weeknd manager Wassim “Sal” Slaiby. The newly-created label is dedicated to "discovering, introducing and championing the artists and musical culture of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region to audiences around the world." Slaiby will serve as Founder and CEO of Universal Arabic Music, effective immediately. “It’s been my dream to highlight the talent and culture of Arabic music on a global level with partners that I trust and admire,” said Slaiby. 

Sony Music Publishing has signed hip-hop songwriter, producer and beatmaker Jonathan DeMario Priester, also known as Supah Mario, to a worldwide deal. Supah Mario has worked with Drake, Lil Uzi Vert, Swae Lee, and Post Malone.  “I’ve long wanted to be a part of Sony Music Publishing, and I am excited for my future with the publisher," said Supah Mario. Sony Music Publishing Vice President, Creative Adrian Nunez said, “The opportunity to work with Supah Mario has been a long time coming, and I’m excited to continue our creative relationship with Mario." 

Los Angeles-based sync licensing company HyperExtension is launching its publishing division, in partnership with Warner Chappell Music, the global publishing arm of Warner Music Group, which will provide administration services, as well as support for HyperExtension songwriters through its Creative Services department. The first signings to the new publishing division include Erik Mattiasson (Melpo Mene), Christopher Barnes (Gem Club), and Henry MacLean and Dylan Grossman (Maryanne Bold). HyperExtension founder and CEO Rachel Komar said the partnership with Warner Chappell has "opened us up to new opportunities on a global scale, for our growing roster of exceptionally talented writers, all the while respecting and supporting our artists-first ethos.”

Electronic and dance music act Swedish House Mafia have hired The Weeknd manager Wassim “Sal” Slaiby as their new manager. The trio from Sweden split in 2013 after scoring a series of hits and performing top-grossing tours, but they reunited in 2018 — shortly after which they parted ways with longtime manager Amy Thomson.

American songwriter and performer Taylor Meier, frontman for the band Caamp, has launched his own independent record label, Gjenny Record. "So much good stuff gets buried because people don’t have the right contacts or connections, so I started Gjenny Records just so I could put out people’s stuff and give them a shot at some daylight,” said the Columbus, Ohio-based artist. The first artist signed to the label is Sam Filiatreau, a songwriter from Louisville, Kentucky.