The Weeknd locked down a massive catalog sale with Lyric Capital Group that sources say pushed past a billion dollars in value. Abel Tesfaye moved everything he created from the start of his run through this year, but he kept creative control and ownership stakes instead of just cashing out completely. The deal structure lets him maintain authority over masters and publishing rights while leaving all future releases untouched by the agreement.
His partnerships with XO, Republic Records, and Universal Music Group stayed exactly the same after the transaction went through. Only one publicly confirmed artist catalog sale ever went higher than this when Sony grabbed Queen's entire collection for around $1.27 billion.
The guy pulls 120 million monthly Spotify listeners, and his recent tour crossed a billion dollars in revenue, which explains why investors were willing to drop that much cash. Ross Cameron from Lyric called the partnership groundbreaking because it flipped the traditional catalog sale model on its head.
His partnerships with XO, Republic Records, and Universal Music Group stayed exactly the same after the transaction went through. Only one publicly confirmed artist catalog sale ever went higher than this when Sony grabbed Queen's entire collection for around $1.27 billion.
The guy pulls 120 million monthly Spotify listeners, and his recent tour crossed a billion dollars in revenue, which explains why investors were willing to drop that much cash. Ross Cameron from Lyric called the partnership groundbreaking because it flipped the traditional catalog sale model on its head.
