In total, the deal covers some 612 tracks for an “eight-figure fee” – therefore ranging between $10 million (£8.8 million) and $99 million (£87.8 million) – and includes the likes of GRAMMY-winning track ‘King’s Dead’, with Jay Rock, James Blake and Kendrick Lamar, as well as the Drake-featuring ‘Life Is Good’ and ‘Selfish’, featuring Rihanna.
Across the 16-year period in question, Future produced eight studio albums, four collaborative albums, one reissued album, one soundtrack (for the film Superfly), 16 mixtapes, four commercial mixtapes, and 114 singles.
Influence Media Partners, the US group founded by Lylette Pizarro who’ve made the purchase, continue to buy up catalogues since their $750 million (£664 million) funding platform with backing from BlackRock, Inc. and Warner Music Group (WMG) was announced.
In response to the news, Rene McLean, Influence Media Partner and Founding Advisor, has described Future as “a cultural icon”, saying the Atlanta rapper “continues to be a blueprint for impact and success in the music industry and has reinvented music in ways that no one has ever expected.
“It is rare to find someone who moves music and culture at the same speed with his distinct vocal and melodic style,” he added. “His prolific career and continued popularity more than 15 years into the game is a testament to his undeniable influence on the contemporary music and culture landscape.”
Future himself has spoken about the news of the deal, saying: “I put everything into my music, and I wanted to make sure these were in good hands as I thought about the next chapter of these songs.”
“I’m proud to partner up with Rene and the team at Influence Media and send a signal that this music has timeless value. My music is my art, and these songs represent some of the most precious artwork of my career.”
The sale of publishing catalogues have proved something of a boom for the music industry in recent years, amounting to an approximate, and rather eye-watering, $5 billion (£4.4 billion) worth of sales last year alone.
Artists selling their catalogues have ranged from legendary figures like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Tina Turner, as well as more contemporary acts like Taylor Swift, Calvin Harris and The Killers.
The proliferation of catalogue sales has been in part caused by the domino effect of artists seeing big money offers for their work, as some catalogues are being valued at triple or quadruple what they were worth two decades ago. Furthermore, the flurry of business activity has generated competition for the most valuable catalogues, among the likes of Sony and BMG, as well as newer companies such as Hipgnosis.
Influence Media Partners, albeit with the backing of two big hitters, have been the winners this time around. We’ll see what happens in the future…
