Multimedia Music, a company that specializes in acquiring the rights to music featured in film and TV productions, has purchased a 50% stake in the music publishing and master rights catalog from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, the companies announced today.
The eight-figure deal gives Multimedia Music partial ownership of songs from the films 1917, Green Book, Bridge of Spies, The Post and others. (It does not include the music from Spielberg’s early hit films, such as Jaws and E.T., that predate Amblin’s founding in 2015.)
“We are proud to partner with MMM and look forward to exploring new avenues to maximize the value of our extensive music catalog alongside their fantastic team,” said Chris Floyd, Amblin Partners co-chief operating officer and general counsel.
Partners James Gibb and Phil Hope said that Multimedia Music will help Amblin monetize its music rights, identify opportunities to increase its value and look for places where tracks are streaming or being broadcast without compensation.
“We’re all on the same side,” Hope said. “We all benefit from finding missing money.”
The company will also look to place the music, which includes works from composers such as John Williams, Thomas Newman and Danny Elfman, in commercials and film trailers.
Investors have been pouring money into catalog acquisitions, which they believe can provide reliable returns primarily thanks to music streaming revenue. While massively popular artists, like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Justin Bieber, have sold the rights to their catalogs, a niche market has developed around film and TV soundtracks. The payouts can be just as large as deals involving major commercial stars. Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is looking to sell part of its song catalog for around $500 million, according to Variety.
Multimedia Music has raised $200 million, Gibb said, of which $130 million has been deployed. The company plans to spend up to $30 million in the coming months through deals that are in the works, he added. Over the past year and a half, the company has completed 12 acquisitions, including the purchase of James Newton Howard’s catalog, which has songs from both the Hunger Games and Fantastic Beasts franchises.