Seoul, South Korea. Picture Credit score: Mathew SchwartzNow billing itself as “Asia’s largest music IP funding agency,” Seoul-headquartered Past Music has introduced the completion of an roughly $170 million strategic fundraising spherical.
Past Music, to not be confused with the Tina Turner-founded musician group of the identical identify, emailed Digital Music Information concerning the roughly $170 million tranche right this moment. Having now raised a complete of about $400 million since arriving on the scene in 2021, the South Korean firm indicated that current backer Praxis Capital, “joined in tandem by a number of of the most important LPs in Asia,” led this latest spherical.
“Praxis Capital is well-known for its profitable monitor file within the content material trade, and brings to the desk not simply capital, however ‘sensible capital’ that delivers perception and shared imaginative and prescient,” stated Past Music head Jangwon Lee, who’s additionally the founder and CEO of Contents Applied sciences.
Predictably, Past Music – which says it’s spearheaded north of 70 music IP buyouts and possesses the rights to some 27,000 tracks – intends to place the money in the direction of scooping up extra catalogs but. “The capital secured from this funding spherical will likely be used to accumulate rights to evergreen songs and additional set up the agency’s monetary energy and deal-closing capability for music rights holders,” higher-ups made clear.
Although Past has finalized a number of stateside investments as of late, execs pointed particularly to a need to boost their enterprise’s “position as the most important and most energetic capital supplier throughout the Asian music trade.” And on this entrance, the proprietor of Interpark Music’s belongings took the chance to tout the perceived effectiveness of its “‘purchase and construct’ enterprise mannequin.”
The mannequin includes buying “large-scale, high-quality music catalogs” earlier than “revitalizing” the concerned works through “proactive worth enhancement methods akin to remakes, efficiency advertising and marketing and trade partnerships.” Jung In-ho’s “Heyo” (2001), for example, is alleged to have made a business splash after Past launched a “contemporary interpretation” final yr – with the corresponding streams reaching the newer iteration and the unique monitor alike.
Addressing the capital inflow, Past’s aforementioned CEO highlighted the regional significance of his firm’s present IP.
“Dwelling to all-time hits similar to the Bon Jovis, Led Zepplins and Whitney Houstons of Asia,” stated the MAPIA founder Jangwon Lee, “Past Music has already established itself because the area’s market chief with the deepest pockets, quantitative disciplines and confirmed value-up information. By means of this funding, we hope to proceed our objective of serving Asia’s most revered artists and their works.”
Final month, Rod Stewart revealed that he’d referred to as off catalog acquisition talks with Hipgnosis, and stories prompt that Common Music Group was nearing a billion-dollar deal for Queen’s physique of labor. In the meantime, Ja Rule is procuring his personal catalog – with circumstances in place for the potential sale.