Kilometre Music Group Acquires Global Hit Songs Recorded by The Weeknd, Drake, Justin Bieber and Post Malone
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TORONTO, ON - Canadian music rights management company, Kilometre Music Group announced today that they have closed two new song catalog acquisitions that significantly increases the Barometer Global Music Royalty Fund’s holdings in songs recorded by Canadian music superstars The Weeknd, Drake, and Justin Bieber.
The five-month-old Fund, primarily focused on acquiring rights from globally successful Canadian songwriters and artists, purchased a premier boutique publishing catalog in a private, off-market deal. The catalog comes with over 300 songs consisting of dozens of global hits by the previously mentioned Drake and The Weeknd; but also has a significant stake in hit songs by Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Eminem, Camilla Cabello, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift.
In a separate transaction, Kilometre also announced they purchased 72 songs from the catalog of hit songwriter Nasri Atweh, including his band Magic’s global hit song “Rude”, and Justin Bieber’s early hits “As Long As You Love Me”, “Never Say Never”, and his Christmas radio staple; “Mistletoe”, the fourth largest selling Christmas song ever in the digital format.
With these new acquisitions, Kilometre boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 songs: including co-ownership of 56 Weekend songs, 31 Drake songs, and 12 Justin Bieber songs. They also have a stake in 26 Post Malone songs including his 5 biggest hits to date: “Circles”, Sunflower”, “Wow”, “Better Now”, and Congratulations”.
The Fund now co-owns 10% of the 100 most streamed songs of all time, and 7% of Spotify’s “Billions Club” – songs with 1 billion streams or more. In addition to previously mentioned songs, Kilometre’s list of copyrights now includes hits such as:
- Blinding Lights – The Weeknd (record breaker for longest charting song on Billboard Hot 100)
- Save Your Tears – The Weeknd
- In Your Eyes – The Weeknd
- The Hills – The Weeknd
- Earned It – The Weeknd
- One Dance - Drake
- Hotline Bling - Drake
- Hold On We’re Going Home - Drake
- Fake Love - Drake
- Pop Style - Drake
- Truffle Butter - Drake
- Too Good – Drake / Rihanna
- Needed Me - Rihanna
- Levitating – Dua Lipa
- Love Again – Dua Lipa
- Sucker – Jonas Brothers
- Closer – The Chainsmokers
- Havana - Camilla Cabello
- My Oh My – Camilla Cabello
- Feel This Moment – Pitbull / Christina Aguilera
- Swish Swish – Katy Perry
- I Forgot That You Existed – Taylor Swift
- Kamikaze - Eminem
Kilometre President of A&R and Acquisitions, Rodney Murphy stated, “We are very excited to announce these incredible catalog acquisitions that comprise some of the greatest songs written in the last 10-15 years. Our decade-long working relationship with both camps gave us the opportunity to source and close these deals with speed and efficiency, and we are humbled that they have trusted us with their life’s work”.
Kilometre CEO Michael McCarty added; “these songs, written by Canadians and recorded by the biggest stars in the world, prove that the sound of popular music today is heavily influenced by Canadian songwriters. That is why Kilometre is focused on investing in the multi-decade worldwide Canadian music invasion for the benefit for Canadian artists, investors and culture”.
In keeping pace with Kilometre’s growth, they also announced the appointment of James Freeman as Chief Financial Officer. James is an accomplished financial professional with 20+ years of investment experience, including more than a decade’s worth of work on various music industry transactions. He played a pivotal role in +$300M USD worth of music publishing catalogs and corporate acquisitions in his previous roles with both Anthem Entertainment (formerly ole) and SOCAN. His deep experience in catalog valuations and acquisitions will ensure the Fund’s growth trajectory continues.
The Barometer Global Music Royalty Fund is available to international investors and accepts new subscriptions monthly. “We are encouraged by the overwhelming interest we have received from the investment community, not only from private investors, but also from family offices, pensions and private equity firms,” said Geoff Spidle, President of Private Client Group at Barometer Capital in Toronto. “Investors continue to seek alternative income strategies and music royalties offer an attractive yield with proven track records of success”.
As per company policy, financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
-30-
