CTM — Andre de Raaff’s music publishing and master rights administration company — has acquired the publishing assets of the Stockholm-based Ten Music Group, which consists of a 1,000 plus song portfolio includes titles by Rihanna, Shakira, and Panic! At The Disco. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CTM was backed in the acquisition by the Outlander Fund, a seemingly new fund launched by Les Ware, a Dallas-based intellectual property lawyer and investor. According to an announcement, this deal represents the first acquisition for what they dubbed the CTM Outlander Music LLP in a strategic alliance between CTM and Outlander Fund, with the goal of acquiring $1 billion in music assets over the next five years.
“We are thrilled about our relationship with Outlander and its principals’ proven investment savvy, and look forward to many profitable acquisitions with Outlander,” CTM Entertainment CEO de Raaff, who built and then sold Imagem for $550 million to Concord in 2017, said in a statement.
The seller of the publishing assets, Ola Håkansson, founder of TEN Music Group, said in a statement: “We are convinced that the new partnership between Outlander and CTM, together with André and CTM’s longstanding experience and reputation in music publishing, will provide a great new home for TEN’s publishing catalogue.”
According to the plans of the new investment vehicle, the music assets that the new investment vehicle will look at possibly using songs and likenesses for creating and trading non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“We have carefully studied the music IP market for some time now; and we have been managing intellectual property for the past 30 years and believe that the time has come to bring our expertise to bear on the music industry,” Outlander managing principals Les Ware said in a statement. “Technology is changing the music market very rapidly and we have the deep expertise necessary to navigate and profit from these changes. The TEN acquisition fits our strategic goals and serves as a robust foundation for our fund’s music acquisitions. In cooperation with André we trust that this is the first of many, many purchases.”
