Music Deals -- Week 23 2021

Canadian music rights management company Kilometre Music Group, in partnership with Barometer Capital Management, have acquired 50% of the rights to the 180-song strong catalogue of Canadian songwriter Belly (a.k.a. Ahmad Balshe), a regular collaborator of The Weeknd (on songs such as 'Blinding Lights') and Nipsey Hustle. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. “When we started Kilometre, our mission was to build a world-class portfolio of iconic songs from the multi-decade worldwide Canadian music invasion. Needless to say, Belly and his incredible songs were at the top of our list. We are ecstatic that Belly has trusted us with his historic catalog that will stand the test of time,” said Kilometre CEO Michael McCarty. 

German DJ Robin Schulz has extended his global publishing deal with BMG, in an agreement that now includes his new Mentalo Music imprint, for which BMG will act as a sub-publisher. The first signings on Mentalo are DJs and producers Loris Cimino, Dario Rodriguez, and Wave Wave. BMG has been Schulz’s music publisher since 2016. "The extension of my publishing agreement puts an exclamation mark behind the satisfaction in terms of our collaboration and the establishment of the Mentalo Edition is a logical next step," said Schultz. BMG Managing Director GSA Maximilian Kolb added: “Robin Schulz is without a doubt one of Germany’s most internationally-relevant artists. Continuing our long-term partnership with him is a testament to our global expertise and our setup and it shows what we stand for as a music company."

US independent music company Primary Wave Music has sealed a worldwide distribution agreement with Universal Music Group distribution and services company for the independent sector Virgin Music Label & Artist Services. The deal includes both physical and digital distribution of the master recording catalogues under the Primary Wave umbrella, including those owned by Primary Wave's strategic partner The Gaither Group, which operates the labels Gaither Music, Green Hill and Emerald Wave.

UMG's Virgin Music Label and Artist Services has signed Filipino hip-hop artist Ez Mil to a global distribution deal. “I believe that signing with UMG/Virgin Music amplifies my freedom as a singer-songwriter and as a record producer," said Ez Mil, who has experienced massive social media presence, with millions of streams on Spotify, 592,000 YouTube subscribers, and over 360,000 followers on TikTok and over 1 million between Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.