Photo Credit: Markus Winkler
GoDigital Media Group has officially infused $100 million into its Cinq Music subsidiary, which will use the capital to acquire music IP.
Multiple outlets just recently reported on the $100 million funding injection for Cinq Music, though 16-year-old GoDigital formally unveiled the development in a presentation last month. GoDigital bills itself as “a media and technology holding company engaged in intellectual property rights management and distribution through its operating subsidiaries.”
These operating subsidiaries include the Latido Music television network, AdShare (a social media monetization service for rightsholders), artist-advance platform Sound Royalties, and, of course, Cinq Music, which functions as a label, distributor, and rights manager. Cinq has grown by 114 percent during the past year, according to GoDigital.
Bearing in mind the latter point, GoDigital indicated in its presentation that it put up the $100 million in question as part of Cinq’s Series D, and the windfall follows a $20 million infusion for Cinq in 2017 and another $40 million contribution in August of 2019.
The $20 million capital influx enabled Cinq Music to scoop up the rights to multiple T.I. albums, and higher-ups intend to put this latest tranche towards purchasing “music rights, both masters and publishing” as well as furthering their company’s “international expansion.” Cinq’s current catalog encompasses stakes in works from Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, Sean Kingston, and Janet Jackson.
Notably, given the recent reports of a possible cooldown within the red-hot catalog space, GoDigital chairman and CEO Jason Peterson in a statement emphasized music rights’ perceived role as “a durable annuity-like asset.”
“Our continued ability to fund Cinq Music for its acquisitions is grounded in music rights being a durable annuity-like asset,” said the RDx board member Peterson. “Across our business units the past four years, GoDigital has invested more than $350mm through multiple capital vehicles.
“Our 2019 series C funding for Cinq helped acquire the iconic Beluga Heights record label and artist Jason Derulo’s catalog. Cinq is having great success scaling its label, distribution and publishing capabilities while executing GoDigital’s proven business model for global rights management,” finished the former Merlin board member.
And in a statement of his own, Cinq co-founder and president Barry Daffurn highlighted his business’s growing international presence.
“We are excited for what the future holds, being a preeminent partner to rightsholders in large and fast-growing markets around the world,” Daffurn communicated in part. “Today we have boots on the ground in 11 countries and territories including the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and South Korea with more to come.”
Notwithstanding the aforementioned indications of a potential slowdown in catalog purchases – into which many companies have poured billions of dollars since 2020’s start – GoDigital’s Cinq Music capital infusion serves as another reminder that the possible falloff will take some time to come to fruition.
Warner Music, Kobalt, and others are already preparing to drop massive (additional) sums on song rights, for instance, and it was only three weeks ago that Björn Ulvaeus’ Pophouse Entertainment purchased the entirety of Swedish House Mafia’s publishing catalog and recordings.