Royalty Exchange, the world’s largest online marketplace for royalties, today announced the introduction of Private Syndicates—a new type of royalty financing opportunity designed to pair larger music catalogs with accredited and institutional investors.
These Private Syndicates meet the unique needs of music catalogs from top-tier artists. The first such offering has already closed, for the co-publishing share of Grammy-winning alternative rock band Cage The Elephant’s catalog.
“Cage The Elephant is a band in their prime with a long career still ahead of them,” said the band’s manager Cliff Burnstein of Q Prime. “Private Syndicates give artists a strong financial foundation for both their personal and professional future, and shows Royalty Exchange can deliver results for any artist… from a single song to multimillion dollar catalogs. Financially empowering artists is the key to creative control, which is the most important factor to achieving true longevity.”
“It was an honor to work with Cage The Elephant and their representatives in this first Private Syndicate offering,” said Royalty Exchange CEO Matthew Smith. “We expect other artists who share their vision of creative and financial freedom to follow their example.”
Under Private Syndicates, Royalty Exchange creates Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) designed to hold music catalogs like that of Cage The Elephant. Accredited investors can then buy shares of that entity, which grants them a proportional share of the royalty income it generates.
For this first Private Syndicate, Royalty Exchange agreed to purchase Cage The Elephant’s co-publishing catalog (which includes mechanical, public performance, sync, and print royalty streams). The catalog spans the band’s first four studio albums, consisting of Cage The Elephant (including the hit “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”), Thank You, Happy Birthday, the Grammy nominated Melophobia, and Tell Me I’m Pretty, which won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 2017.
“We expected strong demand for this incredible catalog, but we were taken aback by how fast investors reacted,” added Smith. More than 40 individual and institutional investors participated, attracted by the potential for double-digit yield (based on the catalog’s five-year compound annual growth rate, industry growth projections, and other factors) and the catalog’s strong cash flow.
Royalty Exchange has now raised over $40 million for music creators in just over two years. The company plans to introduce its next Private Syndicate offering in the weeks ahead.
