Songwriter Royalties: Dua Lipa & More

Description

Place a bid on this diverse Life of Rights catalog featuring hits from European artists ranging in genre from pop to hip-hop and electronic. 

Earnings for this catalog are distributed by the UK performing rights organization PRS for Music, which you’ll notice uses slightly different terminology for royalty sources. We’ve highlighted these throughout the listing. 

LISTING HIGHLIGHTS:

• Life of Rights investment term
• Multi-Platinum artists with global, mainstream appeal 

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

Domestic (U.K.) streaming royalties (noted as “Online” in the financial data) are this catalog’s top-earning source with 42% of last year’s income. 

A close second are international royalties with 36% of earnings. These royalties include radio, streaming, and TV/Film from outside the U.K. which grew year-over-year thanks to the new releases “Want To” and “Healthy.” 

ABOUT THE CATALOG: 

The highest-earning title is English singer Dua Lipa’s “Want To,” with 34% of last year’s earnings. Originally intended for release on Lipa’s 2017 self-titled album, “Want To” went unreleased until auto manufacturer Jaguar picked it up in 2018 in an online ad campaign for its I-PACE remix feature. 

“Want To” was later released on 2018’s  Dua Lipa: Complete Edition, and since has accumulated close to 95 million spins on Spotify to date. Outside the Jaguar placement, “Want To” was also licensed for CBS’s MacGyver (Season 3, Episode 7). 

After that is 2017’s “Bestie” from English rapper Yungen featuring Yxng Bane. The hip-hop single accounted for 21% of last year’s royalties and is the offerings all-time overall top-earner. “Bestie” is Yungen's highest-charting and only top 10 UK single. 

The catalog also features an additional Yungen title — “Mind on It” (2018) — featuring Jess Glynne, as well as 2019’s “Nothing But Net” from English hip-hop artist AJ Tracey (from the UK Gold-certified album AJ Tracey), and “Healthy” from Canadian-American boy band PRETTYMUCH.  

Finally, M.I.A.’s 2015 single “Borders” and Chris Brown’s “Frustrated”  and "If You're Down" from his double-Platinum album Heartbreak on a Full Moon, are also included.

Key Drivers

Streaming Growth Worldwide. According to IFPI’S Global Music Report 2019, streaming revenues were up 34% in 2018, accounting for nearly half (47%) of total recorded music revenues. By the end of 2018, there were 255 million users of paid subscription accounts globally. 

New Album. Dua Lipa just released a new album — Future Nostalgia — on March 27th, 2020. While the new songs are not included in this auction, new releases can help boost an artist's back catalog, as new music draws discovery among first-time listeners and re-engages existing fans. M.I.A. also has been teasing a new album for 2020 (her first since 2016).