Influence Media Partners has entered into a partnership with music producer, songwriter and 2023 Grammy Album of The Year winner, Tyler Johnson, a long-time collaborator of Harry Styles.
Influence Media has invested in a catalog of titles created by Johnson between 2012 and 2020 (Johnson’s work on Styles’ latest release, 2022’s Harry’s House, is not included in this deal).
The music rights firm says in its press release that it has acquired the “publisher’s share of Johnson’s best-Known titles spanning 2012 to 2020 including Watermelon Sugar, Adore You and others”.
Best known for his longstanding creative partnership with Harry Styles, Johnson has co-written or co-produced the vast majority of the pop star’s solo discography and biggest hits from his 2017 solo debut to his chart-topping 2022 release Harry’s House, which earned him two Grammy Awards and recognition alongside frequent collaborator Kid Harpoon.
Influence Media says that it has formed this collaboration as part of its investment strategy built on “modern evergreens,” songs and artists with a strong potential for long-term impact on pop culture.
Influence Media Partners is a US-based music and rights company founded by Lylette Pizarro in 2019.
In early 2022 it announced a $750 million fund to invest in what it calls “high-value compositions from diverse artists” with backing from BlackRock Alternative Investors and Warner Music Group.
In September 2022, Influence acquired the publishing catalog of Grammy-award-winning rapper Future, in what it said was an “eight-figure” deal.
In October, the music and rights company acquired the catalog of Grammy-nominated country music superstar Blake Shelton.
To date, Influence Media’s fund has invested in over 20 catalogs from artists including Puerto Rican songwriter-producer Tainy, singer-songwriter Julia Michaels, songwriter Ali Tamposi, the hitmaking team The Stereotypes, singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez, and singer-songwriter Skyler Stonestreet.
Over the past decade, Johnson has worked with many of the world’s most prominent artists, earning Grammy Award nominations for his work with Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
Other artists Johnson has written and produced for include Diplo, John Legend, and Harry Styles, with whom he has a substantial, long-running collaboration.
Johnson co-wrote on every song on Styles’ self-titled debut album and most songs on 2019 follow-up Fine Line, including Watermelon Sugar, which went to No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Adore You.
Beyond the copyrights included in his Influence Media acquisition, Johnson also co-wrote and co-produced Styles’ recent single, As It Was, which spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and broke Spotify’s record for most streams in a day for a song by a male artist. Johnson is based in Nashville and Los Angeles.
“We are so proud to represent Tyler’s works and look forward to introducing them to even wider audiences.”
Rene McLean, Influence Media Partners
Speaking on the partnership, Influence Media Partner and Founding Advisor Rene McLean said: “Influence Media is committed to partnering with the secret weapons behind some of music’s modern classics, and Tyler Johnson is at the top of that list for his work with Harry Styles alone, along with fellow superstars like Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor and Miley Cyrus.
“We are so proud to represent Tyler’s works and look forward to introducing them to even wider audiences.”
“It has been a pleasure working with the trusted team at Influence Media on my song catalog.”
Tyler Johnson
Tyler Johnson said: “It has been a pleasure working with the trusted team at Influence Media on my song catalog.
“These songs are very important to me and I feel our deal reflects the value of this catalog that I have built over the last 10 years.”
“It was a pleasure to get this deal over the line together and I look forward to building with Influence.”
Nathaniel Cochrane, management
Added Johnson’s manager Nathaniel Cochrane: “Rene and I have been doing business with various clients for a while now, he’s a straight shooter. It was a pleasure to get this deal over the line together and I look forward to building with Influence.”
Johnson was represented by Francois Mobasser, Audrey Benoualid, and Andrew Paster at Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light LLP. Influence Media Partners were represented by Lisa Alter, Katie Baron, and Jaclyn Felber at Alter, Kendrick & Baron, LLP.Music Business Worldwide
