Publishing Royalties for QUE.

This is a catalog of hip-hop songs from the mid-2010s and the publishing royalties they still earn today. For most of the last decade, those earnings leaned on one song. Not anymore. The income now comes from across the catalog, spread over dozens of tracks and several kinds of royalty at once. No single royalty type is more than a quarter of the last twelve months. Streaming, mechanicals, and performance royalties each pull real weight, with a steady line of YouTube earnings alongside them.

Que. broke out of Atlanta on the strength of his 2013 single "OG Bobby Johnson," a raspy, inescapable club hit. Drake spun it at Beyoncé's album-release party. LeBron James used it as his game-day song. It charted on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and picked up a remix with Snoop Dogg, Pusha T, and A$AP Ferg. The value here isn't that one song. It's what the catalog has grown into.

Money arrives through five even streams. A quarter is "Streaming Synchronization," the designation for t YouTube streaming. Another quarter is mechanical royalties, the fee a song earns each time it is streamed, downloaded, or purchased physically. Most of that is recent overseas earnings on "Diamonds." The rest is split across streaming and performance royalties. Close to 80% of income is earned in the U.S., with a sizable piece routed through Hong Kong on "Diamonds."

The last twelve months came in below the three-year average, which can look like a decline. But one event lifts that average: a one-time sync fee of about $2,550 on "OG Bobby Johnson" in 1H2024. Strip it out, and recent earnings sit within a few percent of the current run rate. What has held that run rate steady is a newer line. Starting in mid-2024, overseas streaming on "Diamonds" became the catalog's single largest source of income, and it has paid in four straight periods since, each in the same range. It arrived just as the catalog's older income was easing down, and it has roughly covered that slack ever since. It is recent, so its weight in the mix is only a few periods old, but so far it has shown up on schedule and at a consistent level.

The read here is a mature catalog that has found its level. It is built around one artist, and its top earner, "Diamonds," makes up 31% of the last twelve months, most of that from an overseas stream that is still building a track record. The case is balance and a floor: not a comeback bet, but a steady income stream that has stopped sliding, with sync upside on a track that has landed placements before.

This catalog captures the high-velocity peak of Atlanta rapper Que. and the mid-2010s club-rap scene he helped define. Its center of gravity is "OG Bobby Johnson," the 2013 single that turned a raspy-voiced local favorite into a national name, drew public cosigns from LeBron James and Drake, and carried Que. to a deal with Atlantic Records. The track's star-studded 2014 remix added Snoop Dogg, Pusha T, and A$AP Ferg, extending its reach well beyond its original release.

Around that anchor sits the body of work from Que.'s most active stretch, much of it from the "Can You Digg It?" era: "Diamonds," a melodic standout featuring August Alsina; "Too Much," featuring Lizzle and Trey Songz; and "Time," alongside deeper cuts such as "Vato," "Who Wanna Play," and "Gucci Said." The collection reflects a specific moment in regional hip-hop, built on one breakout single and a surrounding catalog that has aged into steady, long-tail listening rather than fading entirely.

Earnings Note. The earnings peak in 1H2024 reflects a one-time synchronization licensing fee of roughly $2,550 paid on "OG Bobby Johnson". Any similar placement payments in the future will be payable to the buyer.