Reservoir Media has struck a new deal with Rock and Roll and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee Dion Francis DiMucci, professionally known as Dion.
The company says that the deal includes Dion’s entire publishing catalog and future works, as well as synchronization rights to his recording masters.
Dion has released over 40 albums and has earned 39 Top 40 hits, as well as 11 Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits.
News of Reservoir’s deal with Dion comes two months after the firm published its fiscal Q2 2023 (calendar Q3 2022) results for the three months to end of September, during which it generated $33.3 million, up 10% YoY.
In calendar Q3 2022, Reservoir acquired assets – for undisclosed sums – including the publishing portfolio of swing icon Louis Prima, plus Lebanese label and music publisher, Voice of Beirut (alongside PopArabia). The US-based firm said that it is aiming to spend $100 million on “strategic M&A” in its full fiscal year 2023.
Speaking on an earnings call in November, Reservoir founder and CEO, Golnar Khosrowshahi told analysts that her company was “pleased by the quality and volume of deals we executed in the past few months as we continue to make progress against our capital deployment goal of $100 million for strategic M&A in fiscal year 2023″.
Reservoir Media’s current fiscal year runs to end of March, 2023. The company spent $224 million on acquisitions of music rights in its previous financial year (to end of March 2022).
Born in the Bronx, Dion blended doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk, and blues, and according to Reservoir, helped “usher in the age of American rock and roll”.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Dion first found fame as lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts, before pursuing a solo career.
His popularity soared in the 1950s and 1960s, with hit songs such as Runaround Sue, The Wanderer, Ruby Baby, Dream Lover and more.
Runaround Sue reached No.1 on the Hot 100 and helped Dion earn his spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Wanderer peaked at No.2 on the Hot 100.
Both Runaround Sue and The Wanderer have been ranked as two of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Dion continues to release new music and tour today. His 2006 release, Bronx in Blue, earned him his second Grammy nomination.
In 2021, he released his album, Stomping Ground, featuring rock and roll icons like Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler and others.
Additionally, The Wanderer, a musical based on Dion’s life and the challenges he overcame, had a pre-Broadway run at the Paper Mill Playhouse in April 2022.
“I am most pleased to enter into this great new relationship with Reservoir. I know how much the Reservoir team appreciates my work, and I am looking forward to some exciting times ahead with them.”
Dion
On the new deal Dion said: “I am most pleased to enter into this great new relationship with Reservoir. I know how much the Reservoir team appreciates my work, and I am looking forward to some exciting times ahead with them.
“I want to thank the entire Reservoir team for helping to make it happen, particularly Rell Lafargue, Jonathan Sturges and Faith Newman. I also want to thank Marvin Katz, my attorney, who introduced me to Reservoir and represented me in the transaction.”
“Dion is a pillar of early rock and roll music and wrote and recorded songs that are universally loved and recognized.”
Faith Newman, Reservoir
Reservoir’s Executive Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development Faith Newman, said: “Dion is a pillar of early rock and roll music and wrote and recorded songs that are universally loved and recognized.”
She added: “He continues to make music with and inspire the genre’s biggest names today. It’s an honor to support both his evergreen catalog and future hits.”Music Business Worldwide
