Dion has sold his publishing catalog to Reservoir Media. Photo Credit: David Godlis
Another day, another catalog acquisition: Reservoir Media (NASDAQ: RSVR) has officially announced a deal for the song rights of Dion DiMucci.
New York City-based Reservoir and 83-year-old Dion unveiled the transaction today, via a formal release that was emailed to DMN. Under the agreement, Reservoir has specifically acquired the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s “entire publishing catalog and future works,” besides the sync rights to the Bronx-born musician’s masters.
The latter component of the deal – the ability to approve sync placements, albeit in the absence of outright ownership of the recordings at hand – could prove significant moving forward. Since arriving on the scene as part of Dion and the Belmonts more than 65 years ago, the two-time Grammy nominee has released north of 40 studio albums.
And the most recent of these projects, 2021’s Stomping Ground, features collaborations with Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Bruce Springsteen, and several others, Reservoir emphasized.
Meanwhile, some of Dion’s many well-known tracks include a rendition of Bobby Darin-written “Dream Lover,” “Runaround Sue” (which he wrote with Ernie Maresca), “The Wanderer” (on which Maresca has the lone songwriting credit), and 1975’s “Only You Know” (which Gerry Goffin wrote with Phil Spector).
Also worth noting is that Dion’s work has appeared in televisions shows including The Sopranos and Ozark, on top of high-profile video games – though the details of one of the latter placements prompted the singer-songwriter to file a million-dollar lawsuit.
Addressing his catalog sale in a statement, Dion said in part: “I am most pleased to enter into this great new relationship with Reservoir. I know how much the Reservoir team appreciates my work, and I am looking forward to some exciting times ahead with them.”
And in remarks of her own, Reservoir EVP of A&R and catalog development Faith Newman, whose company is scheduled to post its Q4 2022 financials on February 8th, said: “Dion is a pillar of early rock and roll music and wrote and recorded songs that are universally loved and recognized. He continues to make music with and inspire the genre’s biggest names today. It’s an honor to support both his evergreen catalog and future hits.”
Since 2023’s start, Hipgnosis, Exceleration Music, Universal Music and Shamrock, Ultra International Music Publishing, Primary Wave, Seeker Music, and CCR founder John Fogerty have finalized multimillion-dollar catalog deals.
Additionally, new catalog investors are still arriving on the scene; Litmus Music in December unveiled its first investment to date, while Seoul’s Beyond Music revealed its “first major U.S. acquisition.”