New York-headquartered Reservoir Media has made an investment in audio entertainment company and podcast content production studio Audio Up.
As one of the “key contributions” in Audio Up’s recently announced $12 million Series B close, which was led by SiriusXM, Reservoir says that its investment will help Audio Up further build its ecosystem of premium entertainment content within the music and audio space.
In addition, Reservoir and Audio Up are working together on collaborative audio entertainment projects using Reservoir’s catalog of copyrights.
Established in 2020 by Jared Gutstadt (formerly of the Jingle Punks creative music agency), Audio Up is a podcast content production studio that has built a slate of distinctive, original scripted audio entertainment featuring names across music (Machine Gun Kelly, 24kGoldn, Miranda Lambert, Nelly), Hollywood (Anthony Anderson, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Alexander, Shea Whigham, Gael Garcia Bernal, Taye Diggs) publishing (James Ellroy, Stephen King), and more.
Unscripted properties include the riveting top 20-crime podcast Where The Bodies Are Buried, and Michael Cohen’s chart-topping podcast Mea Culpa.
Reservoir joins a list of investors across the entertainment and advertising industries including SiriusXM, multi-platinum recording artist The Weeknd, music executive Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, music manager Larry Rudolph, Hasbro/eOne CEO Darren Throop, founder of Draft FCB and Peloton board member Howard Draft, CEO of gaming/lifestyle giant FaZe Clan Lee Trink, Jordan Levy and Sacha Robles.
Reservoir Founder and CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi said: “This transformative collaboration marks another key moment in Reservoir’s evolution, as we further redefine our business as the business of listenership.
“Jared and Audio Up are creating innovative storytelling experiences through music and we are looking forward to all of the opportunities this creates for listeners and rights holders alike.”
“Reservoir’s investment truly looks towards the future of audio entertainment, bringing to life the Reservoir catalog for a brand-new audience.”
Jared Gutstadt
Said Audio Up Founder and CEO Jared Gutstadt: “Our business is a business of firsts.
“And Reservoir’s investment truly looks towards the future of audio entertainment, bringing to life the Reservoir catalog for a brand-new audience.
“This partnership underscores how important audio media is to the music rights holders across the media landscape as it drives listenership to new levels.
“Reservoir intrinsically understands this model and the unique advantage of being a music publishing and masters platform embedded within the podcast/audio media space.”
Reservoir Media signed a new deal with music icon Joni Mitchell last month, which sees the company become the worldwide administrator of her publishing catalog.
Reservoir confirmed its latest fiscal results last month, revealing that its total revenues in the year to end of March 2021 stood at $81.1 million – up 28% year-on-year.Music Business Worldwide
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