BMG Rights Management (BMG) has acquired the assets of R2M Music (Lux) S.a.r.l (“R2M”) for an undisclosed fee.
The transaction amounts to more than 12,000 copyrights, including 35 Top 10 hits.
The assets sold by R2M pursuant to the transaction include the LeFrak catalogue, home to seven Number One pop hits by the likes of 2Pac “California Love”, Neil Sedaka “Laughter in the Rain”, Captain and Tennille “Love Will Keep Us Together”, Jim Croce “Time in a Bottle”, and Tony Orlando and Dawn “Knock Three Times”. LeFrak’s collection of master rights includes Jim Croce’s greatest hits.
R2M was founded by former Sony/ATV Music Publishing executives Paul Russell, Richard Rowe and Phil May in 2006.
As part of the acquisition, BMG also takes over the catalogue of renowned German rock band Die Toten Hosen, representing the majority of the songs on the six albums the band has recorded since 1996, five of them Number Ones in Germany.
The R2M assets acquired by BMG as part of the transaction also include the music publishing assets of former Transcontinent Musikverlag GmbH, including rights to an extensive German Schlager music catalogue.
BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said, “R2M had assembled a high quality catalogue of outstanding copyrights and we are delighted to be able to extend our services to their writers. We are confident we will do a great job for them.”Music Business Worldwide