Cains, has recently advised Concord, an independent, worldwide leader in developing, managing and acquiring sound recordings, music publishing and theatrical performance rights, in connection with the acquisition by a Concord affiliate of 145,000 owned and co-published music copyrights from Downtown.
The copyrights included in the transaction were developed or acquired by Downtown over the past 14 years and bring Concord’s owned and controlled music assets to over 600,000 works. As part of the transaction, Downtown will continue to manage global royalty collection for the copyrights included in the sale through to the end of 2021.
The catalogue purchased by Concord includes genre-defining songs and global hits, featuring works popularised by Adele, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Blake Shelton, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Grateful Dead, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Maroon 5, Marvin Gaye, Mary J Blige, Mos Def, Motley Crue, New Order, Rage Against the Machine, Ray Charles, Santigold, Sam Smith, Stevie Wonder and The 1975 among many others.
Iconic songs such as Green Onions, Dancing In the Streets, Runaway, Home Sweet Home, Change the World, Moves Like Jagger, Halo, Stay With Me and Shallow are all included in the transaction.
Cains’ corporate and commercial team, which was led by Tristan Head with support from Matthew Wilkinson and George Walmsley, acted as Isle of Man legal advisors to Concord and worked in conjunction with Reed Smith and DLA Piper who also advised Concord on the transaction.
Tristan Head, Director of Cains, said: “We are delighted to have assisted Concord in relation to its acquisition of such an iconic music catalogue. Our mergers and acquisitions team continues to be extremely busy advising both local and international clients on transactions involving Isle of Man entities, both in the regulated and non-regulated sectors. Despite the recent lockdowns on the Island, we have been able to continue to provide the highest levels of service and support to our clients thanks to our wonderful staff and the significant enhancements that we have made to our IT systems.”
