An aerial shot of Isla Verde in Anuel AA’s native Carolina, Puerto Rico. Photo Credit: Coolcaesar
Almost eight months after unveiling a deal for manager Albert Grossman’s “commission rights,” the ICM Crescendo Music Royalty Fund has announced an investment in the catalog (chiefly consisting of the rights to several Anuel AA works) of High Society Management.
The Calgary, Alberta-headquartered song-rights investor just recently detailed its agreement with the decidedly obscure High Society Management. Though the purchasing party opted not to include in its formal release any information whatsoever pertaining to High Society, multiple OpenCorporates pages link the Florida-based entity to one Carlos Suarez.
Suarez, for his part, conducts business as or is otherwise associated with “Spiff TV,” according to his social-media profiles, and Spiff owns (or owned) at least a portion of the rights behind early Anuel AA tracks such as 2016’s “Sola,” “Soldado Y Profeta,” “Death Before Dishonor,” and “En El Castillo,” besides 2015’s “69,” per the copyright information displayed on their respective Apple Music and Spotify pages.
While the Puerto Rican rapper achieved largescale commercial success – and released many additional works – after dropping the listed songs, some of the Anuel AA tracks in which ICM Crescendo appears to possess an interest have racked up a substantial number of streams. The remix of “Sola,” which features Daddy Yankee, has secured over 581 million plays on Spotify alone, for instance.
That said, ICM Crescendo in its official announcement message didn’t identify the transaction’s financial or ownership specifics, and it’s unclear which non-Anuel AA song rights are involved. Addressing the play in a statement, however, ICM Crescendo portfolio manager David Vankka touched upon Latin music’s growing popularity and Anuel AA’s tour plans.
“Latin music is the fastest growing genre in the industry, and we’re excited about the addition of Anuel AA music for our investors,” said Vankka, who’s also president and CFO of ICM Asset Management. “Anuel is considered one of the major players in Latin urban music, has a massive social media following, and is kicking off a significant arena tour in April 2023 to provide his highly-anticipated new album.”
Regarding the mentioned growth within the Latin music space, it’s worth highlighting that Bad Bunny last year reportedly generated north of $430 million from his world tour. Meanwhile, Amazon Music (which in 2022 tapped Anuel AA to perform live after a Thursday Night Football game) last month went ahead and launched a Latin-focused channel on Twitch.
The genre expanded materially – and, in surpassing $500 million in revenue, upped its domestic market share past 6.6 percent – in the States during last year’s opening half. Additionally, the vast majority of Latin music’s stateside revenue derives from streaming, per RIAA data.