Today (9th Feb) the music rights investment company MusicBird is pleased to announce it has signed a Term Loan Facility with capacity up to $100 million with MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group).
MusicBird entered the music rights acquisition space in 2021 on a mission to build a highly selective portfolio of “evergreen” hit songs, focusing on a diverse range of genres and geographies and working across the music and tech ecosystem to grow music revenues.
The Company’s current catalog includes the publishing rights of world class songwriter J.R. Rotem (including songs by Rihanna, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy, Iyaz and Sean Kingston) and the master income and publishing rights of multiple Grammy Award winning artist Shaggy (including “It Wasn`t Me”, “Angel” and “Boombastic”).
This major financing deal is a key step in MusicBird’s next phase of growth as it looks to scale its music rights portfolio in the coming months. The deal was led by recently appointed CEO, Paul Brown (ex-Spotify, Sony Music and Disney) and CFO, Roger Howl (ex-Sony Music, EMI and Hipgnosis Songs Fund).
Paul Brown, CEO of MusicBird said:
“We are delighted to be working closely with the MUFG team as we grow our business and continue to pursue our strategy of acquiring diverse music rights in collaboration with incredibly talented songwriters, artists and partners across the industry. Our team is passionate about building a collection of iconic songs which have stood the test of time and continue to delight fans.”
Tony Beaudoin, Managing Director of Entertainment Finance at MUFG said:
“MUFG is thrilled to lead the senior debt facility for MusicBird, which will allow the company to expand its catalog acquisition initiative of valued music rights. Paul and Roger bring trusted experience in the music space to the company and MUFG is confident in their ability to grow MusicBird’s IP library.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
About MusicBird
MusicBird is a music rights investment company, relentlessly focused on building a boutique “house of hits” with a highly selective music rights acquisition approach. The Company’s music portfolio includes the publishing rights of songwriter J.R. Rotem (including rights to songs by Rihanna, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy, Iyaz and Sean Kingston) and of multiple Grammy Award winning artist Shaggy (including songs such as “It Wasn`t Me”, “Angel” and “Boombastic”).
The company’s mission is to build a portfolio of carefully selected “evergreen” songs which have stood the test of time and to innovate in the management of those rights through partnerships across the fast-evolving music ecosystem with a focus on data driven royalty tech solutions.
About MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group)
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) is one of the world’s leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with over 360 years of history, MUFG has a global network with approximately 2,100 locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has about 160,000 employees and offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing. The Group aims to “be the world’s most trusted financial group” through close collaboration among our operating companies and flexibly respond to all of the financial needs of our customers, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world. MUFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock exchanges. For more information, visit https://www.mufg.jp/english
