Canadian music rights management company Kilometre Music Group has acquired two song catalogs, from Murda Beatz and Bryson Tiller.
The deals Include producer/songwriter Murda Beatz’s hits recorded by Drake, Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane and Migos, along with recording artist Bryson Tiller’s complete multi-platinum selling catalog featuring his 2015 debut, Trap Soul.
According to Kilometre, the deals “significantly” increase its Barometer Global Music Royalty Fund’s holdings “in the top songs of the modern Pop, Rap and R&B era”.
Kilometre was launched by music biz veterans Michael McCarty, Gavin Brown and Rodney Murphy and is specifically looking to buy music rights created in Canada.
In February 2021, Kilometre partnered with independently-owned, Toronto-based investment firm Barometer Capital Management Inc., which currently manages more than $1 billion in assets.
The two companies formed the Barometer Global Music Royalty Fund, a limited partnership with a “targeted size of USD $200 million”.
The nine-month-old Fund has now purchased the Murda Beatz catalog, of 285 songs, consisting of hits by Drake including Portland, Elevate, No Long Talk, With You, and the No.1 Billboard hit Nice for What that spent eight weeks in the top spot in 2018.
Kilometre says that, with this acquisition, it now has a total of 36 Drake songs in the fund.
In addition, the acquisition also includes Travis Scott’s hit Butterfly Effect, the late Nipsey Hustle’s biggest release ‘Grindin’ All My Life and a “42-song stake” in Migos’ catalog including their hit Motorsport.
According to Kilometre, Bryson Tiller’s catalog of 78 songs includes all three of his album releases and feature performances on all songs that he has co-written with other artists.
The catalog include his 2015 platinum debut album Trap Soul, which earned him a Grammy nomination for Best R&B song for Exchange and his 7X platinum and Billboard Top 10 R&B song Don’t.
Tiller’s 2017 album True to Self debuted No.1 on Billboard Top 200 album chart and his 2020 album Anniversary debuted No.5 on Billboard Top 200 album chart.
Tiller has co-written and appeared on songs with Rhianna, Drake, H.E.R., Summer Walker, Chris Brown and DJ Khalid’s release Wild Thoughts, which reached No.2 on Billboard Hot 100 chart and has over 850 million streams on Spotify alone.
With these new acquisitions, Kilometre says that its catalog portfolio now features over 900 songs, with The Fund co-owning 10 of the 100 most streamed songs of all time, and 7% of Spotify’s ‘Billions Club’ – songs with 1 billion streams or more.
“We are honoured that Murda has trusted us with his life’s work, and we are thrilled to build this partnership with him”.
Rodney Murphy, Kilometre
Kilometre President of A&R and Acquisitions, Rodney Murphy said: “I have worked with Murda for over six years and have been amazed by his tireless work ethic and undeniable ability to create classic modern rap hits at a prolific rate.
“We are honoured that Murda has trusted us with his life’s work, and we are thrilled to build this partnership with him”.
“Kilometre has been quietly making big moves and is building something special.”
Murda Beatz
Murda Beatz, (real name Shane Lindstrom) said: “Kilometre has been quietly making big moves and is building something special.
“Rodney Murphy has supported me from day one and there is no company I trust more with my catalog than Kilometre”.
“Bryson Tiller is one of the most influential R&B singer-songwriters of the modern era.”
Michael McCarty, Kilometre
Kilometre CEO Michael McCarty added “Bryson Tiller is one of the most influential R&B singer-songwriters of the modern era.
“His album TrapSoul is an instant classic and will go down in history as one of the most influential records of its time.
“The fact that is has already received billions of streams is proof of his impact on popular culture and that his catalog is the evergreen R&B soundtrack of the future”.Music Business Worldwide
