Nashville-headquartered music licensing/collection society SESAC Music Group has acquired music administration organization Music Services.
Music Services, also based in Nashville, will remain in its headquarters in the city. The company will continue to function as a standalone business within SESAC Music Group under the leadership of Lynn Lowe, President, who has been with Music Services for fifteen years.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Music Services’ back-office administration services encompass song registration, licensing, royalty collections, and copyright clearances.
Over its 35-year history, the company has established partnerships with more than 250 firms, issuing 262,000 licenses.
SESAC, which represents the rights to around 30,000 songwriters including Adele, Neil Diamond, Rosanne Cash and Bob Dylan, is owned by investment giant Blackstone, which bought the PRO in 2017.
SESAC operates four divisions, including Performing Rights, Music Services, Audiovisual Music, and Church Resources.
The deal with Music Services follows SESAC’s series of acquisitions in recent years. In 2021, SESAC acquired Audiam, a streaming royalties collection agency, from Canadian licensing society SOCAN. It also purchased the rights licensing platform Harry Fox Agency in 2015 from the National Music Publishers’ Association.
In March, SESAC finalized the acquisition of AudioSalad, a New York-based content management, analytics, delivery, and distribution tech provider, which continues to operate as a standalone business.
AudioSalad recently announced its partnership with Redeye Worldwide, a distribution and music services company based in North Carolina.
“The quality of their label and publishing services and integrity of the team is unparalleled, and we are excited to help them expand their reach to a broader set of independent labels and publishers globally.”
“We are honored to have Music Services in the SESAC Music Group family,” said SESAC Music Group Chairman and CEO John Josephson.
“The quality of their label and publishing services and integrity of the team is unparalleled, and we are excited to help them expand their reach to a broader set of independent labels and publishers globally.”
“We are thrilled to bring our licensing and administration services and over thirty years of experience to SESAC Music Group, a company that is so clearly aligned with our mission to support creators and independent publishers.”
Lynn Lowe
Commenting on the acquisition, Lowe said: “We are thrilled to bring our licensing and administration services and over thirty years of experience to SESAC Music Group, a company that is so clearly aligned with our mission to support creators and independent publishers.”
“The entire leadership team shares our vision and is eager to support our goal for continued growth, and we look forward to working together for many years.”Music Business Worldwide
