The days of huge companies buying up independent music rights-holders are here again.
And guess what? Another big one is bubbling under.
Back in 2015, MBW told you that German metal label/distributor Century Media was about to be sold to a major – most likely Sony Music.
We later confirmed that Sony did indeed snap up the indie, for GBP £12.2m (which, at the time, converted to around USD $17m).
Last year, we also broke the news that Sony was acquiring UK distributor Essential Music & Media (later confirmed at £3.7m) and historic dance label Ministry of Sound (£67m).
Then in December, MBW revealed that Nashville label group Broken Bow was on the block – and that all three majors were interested, in addition to BMG.
BMG eventually confirmed that acquisition, which we understand was worth $100m+, at the end of January.
Which is all to say… MBW has a bit of a track record when it comes to this stuff.
Here comes the latest scoop.
We’re hearing from trusted sources that Dutch electronic music label Spinnin’ Records is on the block – and that at least two major labels are in the mix to acquire the company.
Whispers suggest that both Sony and Warner are currently contenders to acquire Spinnin’, and that the indie is also being perused by private equity organizations.
BMG, on this occasion, is not believed to be interested in joining the fray.
The pricetag, we hear, is expected to be in the region of $100m.
Spinnin’ Records, which confidently calls itself ‘the world’s leading record label’, was founded in 1999 by Eelko van Kooten and Roger de Graaf.
One of its biggest assets is its YouTube channel which boasts over 17.1m subscribers – making it the world’s 24th biggest YouTube channel in terms of subs.
Based in Hilversum, Netherlands, Spinnin’ has released music over the years from the likes of Martin Solveig, Armand van Helden, Fedde le Grand and Tiesto.
One of its flagship artists, Martin Garrix, split with Spinnin’ in 2015 – later signing a worldwide deal directly with Sony.
Today’s news comes a week after Sony’s The Orchard confirmed that it had acquired a pair of independent digital distributors – Norway’s Phonofile and Germany’s finetunes.Music Business Worldwide
