Month: January 2023

Dr. Dre is selling a bundle of music income streams and some owned music assets in a deal that was seeking $250 million when it came to market, according to sources. Those assets, which generate almost $10 million in annual income, are being acquired, apparently in two separate deals, by Shamrock Holdings and Universal Music Group. Both deals are said to be close to completion and were shopped by Peter Paterno, name partner in King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, sources say.

The assets include mainly passive income streams, according to those sources, such as artist royalties from two of his solo albums and his share of N.W.A. artist royalties; his producer royalties; and the writer’s share of his song catalog where he doesn’t own publishing, which may include the writer’s share of songs on his The Chronic album, which is published by Sony Music Publishing. Sources say that portion of the bundle comprises 75% to 90% of the package’s revenue and is most likely being acquired by Shamrock, which owns some Taylor Swift master recordings, among other past acquisitions. The remaining 10% to 25% of income in the package is generated by owned assets and is probably being acquired by Universal Music Group.

The latter Dre-owned assets that are said to be headed to UMG include the ownership of the master recording of his first solo album, The Chronic, which is scheduled to revert from Death Row Entertainment to Dre in August of this year; his share of an Aftermath/Interscope joint venture with the Top Dawg label for Kendrick Lamar releases through that deal; and maybe some publishing, though it’s unclear exactly which portion of his song catalogs is included. The bundle of offered assets doesn’t, however, include his ownership stake in the Aftermath label, which he co-owns with UMG’s Interscope.

The way the assets are being divided in the sale process fits with each buyer’s strategic profile. Shamrock, as a financial player, is much more interested in income streams and hopefully incremental valuations down the line. UMG, as an industry strategic player, is more interested in owning music assets than in buying passive income streams controlled through ownership or administration by competitors. Plus, ownership of Dr. Dre assets would give UMG the added bonus of enjoying a closer relationship with the rapper/producer, who — along with his co-ownership in Aftermath — has been on Interscope Records for most of his solo career.

While the sellers were seeking $250 million, sources suggest that the combined payments likely fell short but will collectively bring in upwards of $200 million, which would imply a 20-times multiple. But not all of the pieces of the bundle individually carry that type of multiple. Some of the Dre assets could be trading hands at a lower multiple.

UMG declined to comment while representatives from Dr. Dre’s camp and Shamrock Holdings could not be reached for comment.

Dr. Dre is one of the pre-eminent producers of his generation, as well as a rapper and songwriter who has worked with some of the most iconic R&B and hip-hop artists of all time, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 2Pac, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent and Lamar. He initially rose to fame as a co-founder of seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A in the 1980s, before releasing his first solo album, The Chronic, in 1992, which is widely regarded as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time and ushered in the West Coast G-Funk movement that helped to popularize the sampling of 1970s and 1980s funk music by the likes of Parliament, Funkadelic and Ohio Players. That album was released under Death Row Entertainment, the pioneering hip-hop label Dre co-founded with Suge Knight that would rise to fame with releases by Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound and 2Pac, who became the label’s marquee artist.

Dre would later found Aftermath Entertainment, his own imprint through Interscope, through which he would sign Eminem, 50 Cent, Lamar and Anderson .Paak, among others. In 1999 he released the followup to The Chronic, titled 2001, which was similarly celebrated, with star turns from Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, Xzibit and others. In 2015, the famously perfectionist Dre would release his third album, Compton, a companion to the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, which was also released that year. As a solo artist, his three studio albums have amassed close to 20 million album consumption units, with 2001 at 11 million units and The Chronic at 6.6 million units. On an annual basis, those albums have averaged about 600,000 units over the last three years.

Dre also co-founded Beats Electronics alongside Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine in 2006, initially as a headphone brand. In 2014, the company morphed into a streaming service, Beats Audio, as well. The company was subsequently purchased by Apple later that year for north of $3 billion, turning Dre into a billionaire, while the Beats Audio streaming service became the backbone of what became the Apple Music streaming service, which was officially introduced in 2015. In subsequent years, Dre and Iovine donated $70 million to the University of Southern California, endowing a program that became the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. Lately, his production has appeared on releases by Anderson .Paak, Eminem and DJ Khaled.

With Dre coming to market and having found a buyer, the deal marks an acceleration of a run on hip-hop/rap assets kicked off by the acquisition of music assets owned by Future and production songwriter duo Andre Harris and Vidal Davis, better known as Dre & Vidal, in groundbreaking deals that finally brought private equity into the R&B/hip-hop/rap world. Future’s assets were acquired by Influence Media Partners, while the latter duo’s assets were purchased by HarbourView Equity Partners. Up until those deals, private equity had been primarily interested in classic rock, country or current mainstream pop music.

Dr. Dre has been in the news lately after his lawyers called out Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green for using his song “Still D.R.E.” in a video posted to social media without permission. A cease and desist letter signed by Howard King of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano LLP informs the Congresswoman that Dre “ will never grant [Taylor Greene] permission to broadcast or disseminate any of his music.” While Dre appears to be selling a large portion of his music rights, that doesn’t mean that the Congresswoman may eventually be able to license his music from some other owner. When such deals are being done, an artist or songwriter might want to retain some control over song use approval rights, though that could result in a discount to a deal’s valuation.

Dan Rys provided assistance in preparing this story.

As festival season — or at least the season of festival lineups dropping — moves into high gear, the Caribbean destination fest SXM Festival has announced its 2023 artist roster.

Touching down on the island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten this March 8-12 will be a high-caliber posse of house and techno stars including Marco Carola, DJ Tennis and Carlita performing together as Astra Club, a set from Francesca Lombardo, Dubfire Yokoo, Camelphat Mochaak and Gordo, the artist formerly known as Carnage. (The latter three were also included on Tuesday’s 2023 Coachella lineup.)

Since launching in 2016, SXM has drawn fans from more than 35 countries. The five-day festival happens at locations throughout the island, a territory of both France and The Netherlands, in venues including a private jungle and beach area, a villa and a beach club. Additionally, limited capacity “satellite” events will take place on the peak of Sint Maarten’s highest mountain at sunset, along with a boat party cruising through the Caribbean’s largest lagoon and a catamaran cruise.

In 2017, after the island was devastated by Hurricane Irma — which left an estimated 95% of the French side of the island destroyed — SXM organizers collected more than $38,000 for the relief effort. The event was one of the few festivals to happen in 2020 before the pandemic shut down the live events space, and after a postponed 2021 event also due to the pandemic, returned to Saint Martin/Sint Maarten in 2022.

The love for its island home continue through SXM’s focus on leaving a smaller footprint and helping replenish the area’s natural environments via initiatives that include going paperless, saving energy with LED and solar lights, and eliminating plastic waste throughout the festival.

Tickets for SXM Festival 2023 are on sale now.

She’s a mastermind! Taylor Swift may not have been in the room at the 2023 Golden Globes held at the Beverly Hilton on Tuesday (Jan. 10), but her presence was still felt in the awards show’s choice of music.

Ryan Murphy was the evening’s recipient of the prestigious Carol Burnett Award, which the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gives to honor “outstanding and lasting contributions to television on or off the screen,” and as he walked to the podium to accept the trophy, Swift’s Midnights closer “Mastermind” could be heard playing over the cheers of Hollywood’s best-dressed glitterati.

“Once upon a time the planets and the fates/ And all the stars aligned/ You and I ended up in the same room/ At the same time/ And the touch of a hand lit the fuse,” the superstar’s voice can be heard before the American Horror Story and Pose creator began his acceptance speech.

After accepting the award from frequent collaborator Billy Porter, Murphy offered a nearly 10-minute speech shouting out LGBTQ+ trailblazers he’s worked with over the years, including Porter, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Niecy Nash, Matt Bomer and Jeremy Pope.

“When I was a young person at home in the ’70s, watching The Carol Burnett Show, I never, ever saw a person like me getting an award or even being a character on a TV show,” he said. “It’s hard being an LGBTQ kid in America. In fact, all over the world then and now. And I have one word for you: Florida. You are often told you will never become anything, you have to hide your light to survive. But for those kids watching tonight, I offer up MJ and Billy and Niecy and Matt and Jeremy as examples of possibility.”

Swift was nominated in the best original song, motion picture category for her track “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing alongside fellow nominees Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Tems. However, all the superstars were ultimately beat out by Chandrabose and M.M. Keeravaani’s “Naatu Naatu” from RRR.

Watch Swift’s “Mastermind” help soundtrack Murphy’s big Golden Globes moment below.

People are talking about how Austin Butler is talking. At the Golden Globes Tuesday (Jan. 10), however, the 31-year-old actor responded to comments regarding how his voice has changed since playing The King in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, specifically addressing those who have been poking fun at him in recent months for supposedly keeping up the deep Southern drawl he learned for the movie long after it wrapped.

“I don’t think I sound like him still,” he said in the awards show’s press room after winning best actor, drama motion picture for his performance in Elvis. “But I guess I must because I hear it a lot. I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time.”

“I had three years where that was my only focus in life, so I’m sure there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked to him,” he added.

It’s not the first time Butler has addressed comments on his post-Elvis speech patterns. In December, he joked about his voice change during his opening monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live, and in June, he spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the matter. “At this point, I keep asking people, ‘Is this my voice?’ Because this feels like my real … it’s one of those things where certain things trigger it, and other times as well it’s, I don’t know,” he said.

One night prior to the Globes, the Carrie Diaries star appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and shed some light on the intensive process he underwent to prepare for his portrayal of the late rock n’ roll legend, which included reconstructing the way he spoke. He even spent hours learning to chuckle exactly like Elvis did by listening to audio compilations of the “Hound Dog” singer’s laughter.

“I’d walk down the beach for hours with a headphone in, laughing as Elvis,” he recalled. “So it looked like [I was] this man, just absolutely out of his mind.”

Watch Austin Butler address comments about his Elvis voice at the Golden Globes below:

Selena Gomez walked the Golden Globes red carpet Tuesday (Jan. 10) with a very special date on her arm — her 9-year-old sister, Gracie Elliott Teefey. The little girl is her youngest sibling, whom she shares through mother Mandy Teefey and stepfather Brian Teefey.

Gomez appeared on the carpet in a stunning black Valentino Haute Couture gown with purple puff sleeves. The singer-actress embraced and hugged Gracie, who wore a sparkling pale yellow gown carried an equally glittering purse, as they made their way into The Beverly Hilton, where the ceremony was held.

The sisters’ night at the Globes is just the latest in several outings they’ve had in recent weeks. The Only Murders in the Building actress shared photos of her celebrating Nicola Peltz Beckham’s birthday with a dinner on Jan. 8, in which Teefey was in attendance. And on Jan. 6, Gomez shared on Instagram that the sister duo had a girls night — just the two of them — when they wore matching all-black outfits.

The Rare Beauty founder nabbed her very first Golden Globe best actress in a TV series comedy or musical nomination for her portrayal of Mabel Mora in the hit Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building opposite Steve Martin and Martin Short. She previously shared a throwback video of an old interview to celebrate, in which she claimed that she saw herself as “more of a Golden Globe or Oscar girl” than having her heart set on winning a Grammy.

Gomez lost out on the Golden Globe to Abbott Elementary‘s Quinta Brunson.