A live performance from Juice WRLD, whose work is part of the Opus Music Group catalog. Photo Credit: Andy Jones
Litmus Music has seemingly scooped up Opus Music Group, the home of Juice WRLD, Ozuna, and Maluma song rights.
Word of the deal emerged only recently in a since-deleted LinkedIn post penned by Truist Securities managing director Charles Johnson. According to that message, which was yanked just moments after DMN reached out to Litmus for comment, Truist in July served as lead bookrunner and left lead arranger on an upsized Litmus credit facility.
Totaling $400 million (up from $250 million), the facility was “used to finance the purchase of Opus Music Group,” per the text, which also spells out that “Truist Securities worked closely with existing lenders to meet the timeline of the Opus acquisition closing while introducing new issuer-friendly terms that provide Litmus the flexibility to execute their growth initiatives.”
At the time of this writing, Litmus, which in 2023 spent a reported $225 million on Katy Perry’s catalog, hadn’t responded to a request for comment. Similarly, it, Opus (the website of which was still live), and Truist alike didn’t appear to have put out releases pertaining to the subject.
However, it’s been one year since the Katy Perry deal was announced, and Billboard has reported that Opus, despite displaying a founding year of 2022 on LinkedIn, started exploring a catalog sale in April.
As described in different reports, it was in or around the top of 2022 that Elliott Investment-powered Opus acquired Juice WRLD’s music IP.
Among other things, the reported Opus Music purchase underscores the considerable capital that’s still flying around the catalog arena notwithstanding broader economic concerns and an adjacent emphasis on cash.
Last month, after Calvin Harris’ $100 million catalog changed hands in July, Iconoclast finalized a deal (one component of a broader focus on reggae) with Half Pint, and James Fauntleroy sold to HarbourView Equity Partners.
With that said, the IP sub-sector hasn’t been without turbulence – see the Barry Manilow v. Hipgnosis showdown and the opposition of Michael Jackson’s family to a $600 million pact with Sony Music – as of late.
Closing on a more positive note, the space’s myriad deals are, of course, ushering in aggressive efforts to monetize the involved works. Cinq Music today reached out with word of Daddy Yankee’s “first-ever vinyl drop,” under which projects including Barrio Fino are set to become available to fans next month. A second drop is expected to follow (with three separate vinyl albums) in November for Cinq, which in May bought Flow La Movie’s catalog.
