Warner starts bidding process for catalogue divestments to indies
Warner Music Group has started the process of divesting some of its artist and catalogue in order to satisfy the deal it made with Impala and Merlin after acquiring Parlophone Records last year. The agreement was created to ensure that independent labels can leverage Warner assets to claim more market share in future – and close the gap between themselves and the majors.
Less than one-third of the value of the Parlophone deal (£487m) will be sold, according to Billboard sources – despite groups such as Iggy & the Stooges, the Talking Heads, the Pretenders and Black Sabbath appearing on the ‘for sale’ list.
Indie labels can express interest in any artist on the list, however, Warner Music is said to ultimately control what assets it will choose to sell or make available through licensing or distribution deals.
In order to be eligible indie labels or distributors reportedly had to be members of either Merlin or Impala at the time the deal was struck with WMG.
Former International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) CEO John Kennedy, who is now affiliated with the Belgium Maximus Agency, has been hired to broker the process.
The auction is said to be likely to run to September and could continue through the rest of this year.
Source: Music Week
