儲層

2021年6月4日

據美國證券交易委員會(SEC)的一份文件顯示，Reservoir以約1億美元的價格收購了總部位於紐約的開創性嘻哈和電子唱片公司Tommy Boy Music。這筆交易包括6000多首經典曲目，包括80年代和90年代初的經典曲目，如Coolio的《Gangsta’s Paradise》、House of Pain的《Jump Around》和Afrika Bambaataa & The soulsononic Force的《Planet Rock》。Tommy Boy於1981年由高管湯姆·西爾弗曼(Tom Silverman)用父母提供的5000美元貸款創立，是當時新興嘻哈流派的先鋒廠牌之一，憑借《星球搖滾》(Planet Rock)迅速成名，布朗克斯DJ阿弗裏卡·班巴塔(Afrika Bambaataa)將Kraftwerk與饒舌音樂和Roland T-808鼓機快速敲擊的節奏進行了創新融合;這首歌成為了那個時代紐約迪斯科舞廳的主打曲目。幾年前，希爾弗曼創辦了《舞曲報告》行業雜誌，在隨後的十年裏，他將該廠牌打造成了嘻哈和電子音樂的巨頭，擁有諸如De La Soul(尤其是1989年的經典專輯《三尺高與上升》)、Queen Latifah、Coolio、Naughty By Nature、Digital Underground、House of Pain和Force MDs等經典說唱藝術家，以及LFO、Coldcut和808 State等電子藝人。它甚至幫助TKA、K7和Information Society發行了拉丁嘻哈音樂。它的資產還包括阿默斯特唱片公司、哈萊姆音樂公司和哈爾威爾音樂公司的唱片目錄，這些唱片擁有70年代靈魂樂、迪斯科和爵士藝術家的大師作品和出版權，這些藝術家包括Stylistics、Van McCoy和Glenn Medeiros。這是最近一長串音樂目錄收購中最新的一筆，也是最賺錢的一筆，其中包括鮑勃·迪倫以3億美元的價格將他的歌曲目錄賣給環球音樂出版公司，史蒂夫·尼克斯以1億美元的價格將她的大部分知識產權賣給Primary Wave，尼爾·楊以1億美元的價格將他一半的歌曲目錄賣給Hipgnosis，以及其他許多數百萬美元的交易。僅舉一例，早期嘻哈音樂版權的價值體現在Snoop Dogg主演的無處不在的科羅娜啤酒廣告中使用了Whodini 1984年的熱門歌曲《Friends》。盡管最初取得了巨大的成功，但Tommy Boy陷入了法律和財務困境，主要原因是圍繞其發行版本大量使用樣本和插值而出現的新而複雜的版權問題; between “Planet Rock” and the large number of samples on De La Soul’s “Three Feet High and Rising” — which sampled everything from Hall & Oates to the Turtles to “Schoolhouse Rock” (all of which took legal action) — the label became a guinea pig for such lawsuits. Silverman, an outspoken booster for independent labels, entered a partnership with Warner Music in 1985 to offset those challenges that eventually became contentious. That joint venture ended in 2002 with Warner holding a number of the label’s copyrights. However, Silverman reacquired the rights to the catalog in 2017 when Warner was required to divest a number of holdings in order to acquire the British label Parlophone. In the wake of the re-acquisition, De La Soul launched a “Boycott Tommy Boy” when the label attempted to post its music on streaming services owing to their original deal with the company — signed when the members were teenagers — that would bring 90% of streaming income to the label and just 10% to the group. Consequently, the group’s classic recordings remain unavailable on streaming services, a situation Reservoir seems likely to work to resolve: A rep for the company tells Variety, “We have already reached out to De La Soul and will work together to the bring the catalog and the music back to the fans.” Tommy Boy Music joins Chrysalis Records, augmenting Reservoir’s recorded music division. Reservoir will continue to market the catalog under the Tommy Boy label out of Reservoir’s New York City headquarters with A&R and Creative led by Reservoir EVP Faith Newman (a veteran of another classic hip-hop label, Def Jam Records) and international marketing and distribution driven by Reservoir’s Chrysalis Records team in London. This news comes following the announcement that Reservoir has entered into an agreement with Roth CH Acquisition II Co. (Nasdaq: ROCC), a special purpose acquisition company, taking the first step toward becoming a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq. It is expected to take place in the third quarter of 2021.