Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo Credit: Chander Mohan
SESAC and Wise Music Australia have officially inked a licensing agreement to bring the latter company’s catalog to Asian nations including Singapore, Vietnam, and India.
Blackstone’s SESAC and the Wise Music Group subsidiary formally unveiled their “exclusive digital licensing deal” via a brief announcement message today. As part of the tie-up, SESAC Digital is poised to negotiate Wise’s agreements with “online service providers” in 20 countries in Asia.
While the union doesn’t extend to Japan (which remains the world’s second-biggest music industry) or the quick-evolving markets of China and South Korea, it will reach Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia, according to the involved parties.
(As a noteworthy aside concerning the international entertainment sphere growth of South Korea and Asia itself, Seoul’s Kakao Entertainment yesterday announced plans to develop approximately 30 television shows and films in 2023, up from 20 projects last year. In January, the company completed a close to $1 billion raise and set its sights on spearheading a global expansion.)
Back to the SESAC-Wise pact, though, the deal is also expected to cover Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and East Timor.
Next, the entities disclosed that Mint Digital Services (a joint initiative from SESAC US and Switzerland’s SUISA) will administer Wise’s catalog in the above-identified countries. The copyrights at hand include works from Eddie Money, Ludovico Einaudi, Bright Sheng, Du Yun, and Olafur Arnalds, to name some.
In a statement, Wise Music Australia MD Jane English (whose division “now exclusively handles all rights for Asia”) acknowledged the commercial significance of developing a presence in Asia’s fast-expanding music markets.
“We are thrilled to be embarking on this partnership with SESAC/Mint,” communicated the former Jam Music director English. “As we continue to grow in the rapidly growing Southeast Asia region this collaboration will help us deliver value to the Wise Music songwriters.”
And in remarks of his own, SESAC and Harry Fox president of international Alexander Wolf relayed: “We are grateful that Wise Music has entrusted their fabulous catalog to SESAC Digital. The expansion of our presence in Asia will benefit all our writers and publishers.”
Worth mentioning in conclusion is that BTS’ Suga yesterday announced a solo tour, which includes north of 10 shows in the States as Hybe works to bolster its reach on the world stage. On top of these U.S. stops, however, 29-year-old Suga has booked three concerts in Jakarta as well as four total gigs in Bangkok and Singapore.