Cutting Edge Group founder and CEO Philip Moross. Photo Credit: Alexandra Cameron
Cutting Edge Group has announced the completion of a $500 million debt refinancing, which it says will set the stage for continued song-rights investments.
The Cutting Edge Media Music (CEMM) parent reached out with word of its half-billion-dollar refinancing today. According to the 18-year-old business, the new facility was made possible by “a syndicate of four banks,” led specifically by Fifth Third and Northleaf.
Hardly a stranger to the music space, Northleaf has in recent years partnered with Spirit Music Group parent Lyric Capital, provided a $75 million facility to Duetti, and, towards 2021’s end, rolled out an over $300 million bond offering backed by several high-profile catalogs.
Returning to Cutting Edge’s refinancing, though, the company underscored plans to acquire IP from an already-established $1.5 billion pipeline of potential deals.
As it stands, the business’s portfolio encompasses more than “2,000 titles across soundtrack albums, publishing assets,” and royalty streams, according to the release. (CEMM, which bought White Stork as well as the catalog of First Score Music in 2023, itself possesses stakes in north of 45,000 tracks, the appropriate website shows.)
Building on these ideas, Cutting Edge Group CEO Philip Moross highlighted an ongoing “increase in demand for media music usage” and noted his company’s pivot into wellness music.
“Through our early conviction in this very specific area of the market,” the American Made executive producer said in part, “Cutting Edge has become a world leading music partner to the film and tv industries. … Prior to the pandemic, we identified a similar opportunity in the global wellness market, which is now projected to grow at 10% per annum to a US$7 trillion market by 2025. This refinancing will enable us to execute our growth strategy to take full advantage of these trends in our usual disciplined way.”
Particularly on the wellness music front, Cutting Edge is said to have “assembled a significant portfolio featuring over 75 active songwriters and artists generating several billion streams.” And beyond core streaming revenue, execs have pinpointed “a range of off-platform opportunities” to drive monetization, per the text.
Last year, Warner Music Group kicked off a trial for “musical medicine” designed to alleviate pain and stress, while Universal Music Group partnered with AI “sound wellness” app Endel and introduced a forthcoming “music-centric wellness app” called Sollos.
Bigger picture, Cutting Edge’s commitment to injecting more capital yet into song rights has arrived as the catalog sphere is seemingly rebounding despite broader economic uncertainty. Earlier in April, following Sony Music’s record-setting deal for a Michael Jackson catalog interest and Iconic Artists Group’s Rod Stewart agreement, Pophouse Entertainment acquired a variety of KISS IP.
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