Music Industry Leaders Launch Kilometre Music Group to Reclaim Music Rights of Canadian Artists
Toronto, ON - Veteran Canadian music industry leaders Michael McCarty, Gavin Brown and Rodney Murphy have announced the formation of the Kilometre Music Group, a ground-breaking music rights management company whose mission is to reclaim the financial rewards of the multi-decade worldwide “Canadian music invasion” for the benefit of Canadian artists, investors and culture.
“Canadians dominate the global music charts right now, but this has been building for over five decades,” says Kilometre CEO Michael McCarty. “This Canadian Invasion has fostered some of the greatest songs of all time and we see a brilliant future investing in them. Since the rights to most of these songs are owned by foreign companies, the Canadian economy has been deprived of billions in global royalty revenue. We want to reverse that flow by bringing home the rights to our most important music.”
Kilometre has partnered with Barometer Capital Management Inc., an independently owned Toronto investment firm that manages more than $1 billion in assets. Together they formed the Barometer Global Music Royalty Fund, a Limited Partnership with a targeted size of USD $200 million that will invest primarily in the iconic catalogs and music rights of Canadian creators.
The Kilometre team has been intimately involved in discovering Canadian artists and helping them grow their careers and royalties for several decades across rock, rap, pop and country genres. McCarty is a well-respected music publisher who was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2019. He was president of EMI Music Publishing Canada for 17 years, spent four years as the president of Anthem (formerly Ole) and the last seven years as the Chief Membership Officer of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). McCarty has worked in various capacities with artists such as Neil Young, Michael Jackson, Glass Tiger, Loverboy, Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams, Drake and Alessia Cara.
Brown is an accomplished songwriter and the recipient of the Juno Award for Record Producer of the Year. His work on numerous artist projects over his career has been nominated for 37 Junos. He has produced The Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies, Billy Talent, Three Days Grace, Sarah Harmer and Metric.
Murphy is a 17-year veteran of SOCAN where he worked with Canada’s top global hit makers such as Boi-1Da, Belly, Murda Beatz (Migos, Drake), Frank Dukes (Camilla Cabello, Post Malone), OZ (Future, Travis Scott) and artists such as Jessie Reyez, Shawn Mendes, and the Weeknd. Rounding out the team is noted royalty analyst Kyle Mullen, who was a key part of the success of Barometer’s Music Royalty Fund I, launched in 2018.
“Our cultural diversity is reflected in the diversity of our music, and by looking at the charts, music fans around the world can’t get enough of it” says Kilometre President of A&R/Acquisitions Rodney Murphy. “In particular, BIPOC Canadian producers and artists have made massive contributions to the music that is driving the explosive growth of digital music on streaming and social media. A key focus for us will be to support those communities.”
With their history of supporting Canadian artists, and their deep roots in the music royalty industry, the Kilometre principles see themselves as uniquely suited to help Canadian artists and investors capitalize on what they view as a generational opportunity brought on by the growth of music streaming. Kilometre plans to blend investments in iconic Canadian songs of the past, with support for new artists. President Gavin Brown summarizes their mission this way: “Ultimately, Kilometre’s goal is to ensure the Canadian invasion continues both by protecting Canada’s music history and supporting the historic artists of the future”.
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