Kilometre Music Group Acquires 50% of Belly’s Song Catalog
Including all Songs co-written with The Weeknd
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, ON - Recently formed Canadian music rights management company, Kilometre Music Group, in partnership with Barometer Capital Management Inc., announced today that they have acquired 50% of the rights to Canadian songwriter Belly’s (Ahmad Balshe) song catalog of 180 songs. The Grammy and Oscar nominated, JUNO award winning songwriter is one of the most successful songwriters of the modern era, having co-written the Weeknd’s biggest hits including “The Hills”, “Earned it”, “Save Your Tears”, “Blinding Lights” and “In Your Eyes”, as well as Beyonce’s “Six Inch” from her critically acclaimed album "Lemonade". He also co-wrote and featured on the late Nipsey Hustle’s “Double Up”. The XO and Roc Nation artist has had a successful run as a solo artist with hits including “Might Not”, “What You Want”, “Maintain” and has a new album on the way.
Kilometre President of A&R and Acquisitions, Rodney Murphy stated, “Belly is essentially a double threat as very few artist/songwriters have had the success that he has achieved over the course of his fifteen-year career. From his edgy and poetic verses as a rapper to co-writing music’s biggest hits that are shaping the sound of popular music today, Belly will go down in history as one of Canada’s greatest songwriters”.
The record-breaking numbers that his songs have achieved are astonishing. The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” is the first song to remain in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for an entire year and is currently the second most streamed song of all time on Spotify. He also recently had the Billboard #1 song with The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s remix of “Save Your Tears’. In 2016 Belly was named the first-ever SOCAN Songwriter of the Year, and among many other highlights for him that year, “The Hills” stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks in a row.
“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.
When asked about the new partnership with Kilometre, Belly stated, “I am thrilled to officially partner with Kilometre, a company who has believed in my vision from the start and whose leadership I have deep-rooted history and strong mutual trust in”.
As per company policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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