Sony Music Publishing Negotiating to Buy Recognition Music Group Assets From Blackstone
Categoria: Musica
Some sources say the deal could be for Recognition Music's entire portfolio.
Por Billboard | 01/05/2026
Sony Music Group’s publishing arm is negotiating with Blackstone in what could be a deal to acquire all of Recognition Music Group’s publishing assets, according to sources. The move comes on the heels of two prior asset sales by Blackstone to Sony, and also after the private equity firm assigned Sony Music Publishing to be the primary administrator of its song catalog. Since 2017, Blackstone has amassed a portfolio of an estimated $4 billion in music assets, acquired by two of its separate investment teams. Beginning in 2021, a London-based Blackstone investment team spent around $800 million on music assets via Hipgnosis Songs Capital, and bought the administration arm of Hipgnosis Songs Management, before subsequently acquiring the publicly traded music catalog assets of Hipgnosis Songs Fund for $1.6 billion in April 2024. Before that, in January 2017, a New York-based investment team acquired SESAC for $1 billion, while in 2021, that team also acquired eOne Music , which it renamed MNRK Music Group, for $385 million. Related Blackstone Trims Recognition Catalog With $200 Million Sale to Sony Music Ahead of New Orleans Jazz Fest, Former Police Officer Arrested for Plan to Kill Black People in a Mass Shooting Spotify Reveals First-Ever Most Streamed Artists, Songs and Albums List: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd Are Tops Subsequently, the Blackstone London team completed two asset-backed securitizations for a total of $1.842 billion against those former Hipgnosis assets, raising $1.47 billion in 2024 and another $372 million in mid-2025. Along the way, in June 2025, Sony acquired Hipgnosis Songs Management — the administration arm of the rebranded Recognition Music Group — along with the contracts of the active current roster of songwriters and about 4,400 songs recorded by artists including Sabrina Carpenter and One Direction , for an undisclosed sum. In February 2026, Sony acquired a separate group of Recognition assets for more than $200 million, including works from songwriters including Jeff Bhasker and Jack Antonoff . While one financial source suggests that the new potential deal only involves another piece of the Recognition catalog — similar to the first two deals between the two companies — other sources say that the possible deal being discussed is for the entire Recognition Music portfolio, which boasts some 45,000 titles and recordings from more than 145 catalogs, including songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers , Neil Young , Blondie , Justin Bieber , Shakira , Journey and Fleetwood Mac . If it’s the latter, sources suggest that deal valuation would come with a price tag of $2 billion or more. Related Sony Music Partners With GIC to Invest in ‘Premiere’ Music Catalogs It’s unclear how Sony will finance the acquisition, but it’s not like the major doesn’t have enough resources of its own, let alone enough willing financial partners in other music assets acquisitions. In January of th