Round Hill Music acquires Rident Royalties to significantly expand its neighbouring rights platform

13 September 2023 - Press release

 

Round Hill Music LP ("Round Hill" or the "Company"), the integrated music company founded in 2010 that manages songs with a value of circa $1.3 billion, announces that it has acquired Austin, Texas based Rident Royalties ("Rident"), the leading neighbouring rights agency for film/tv composers and production music. The investment further expands Round Hill's neighbouring rights platform, Sound Hill, bringing additional expertise, industry networks, new technology, territorial reach and circa 1,000 new clients.

With the acquisition, Sound Hill's client portfolio will expand to include over 1,200 performers and 120 record labels.  Along with its diverse roster of artists across all musical genres, Sound Hill will also assume Rident's vanguard position in the formerly untapped production music and film/tv score neighbouring rights markets. The integrated team will continue to work closely with the extended Round Hill platform, which boasts c.70 employees located in the major music and entertainment markets of Nashville, New York, Los Angeles and London.

Since it was established in 2016 by Chris Kennedy, a Texas resident and a former employee of Sound Exchange, Rident has developed a leadership position in the area of neighbouring rights collections. It has direct relationships with 64 Collective Management Organisations ("CMOs") in over 45 territories. Rident has grown from having fewer than 100 to over 1,000 clients in the span of a few years by identifying performers and labels across the globe with neighbouring rights income in territories either not covered by their national CMO or on usage types not covered by their national CMO.  By developing technology to claim neighbouring rights to each CMO's exact specifications, Rident has been able to deliver collections at scale.

Sound Hill, whose artist clients include Alice Cooper, Alice In Chains, David Coverdale, Goo Goo Dolls and the estate of Ronnie Van Zant among others, was established by Round Hill in 2021 and is led by former PPL client manager Róisín Brophy. Chris Kennedy and Róisín Brophy will lead the platform as co-heads of Sound Hill.

Josh Gruss, CEO at Round Hill Music LP said: "Over the last three years, under the leadership of Róisín Brophy, Round Hill Music has established a well-regarded and high performing neighbouring rights platform in Sound Hill, serving performers and rightsholders across the globe. The combination of Rident and Sound Hill's advanced repertoire, claims technology and deep expertise creates an unequalled service provider in this area of the market, which has strong growth forecasts underpinned by the music industry's overall positive outlook. With this new addition to its stable, Round Hill will continue to apply its expertise to managing and maximising the value of our music catalogues."

Chris Kennedy, Owner/President of Rident Royalties said: "Sound Hill and Rident share the goal of providing an unparalleled level of representation and personal service to our clients.  Together, our experience, global neighbouring rights affiliations and client portfolios will provide mainstream clarity on one of the least understood revenue streams in the music industry, and ultimately ensure that rightsholders are paid quickly and accurately." 

Revenue from neighbouring rights is collected from the royalties and license fees that are required to be paid by broadcasters to the artists, producers and songwriters that created the music they use. In addition to broadcasters, recorded music is also used by a wide range of businesses — such as bars, retailers, gyms and nightclubs — which are required in most countries to pay a fee for the music they use.