DLA Piper advises Concord in acquisition of Downtown's copyright portfolio

DLA Piper represented Concord, a leading independent music company, in connection with the acquisition by a Concord affiliate of Downtown’s iconic portfolio of 145,000 owned and co-published music copyrights. The copyrights included in the transaction were developed or acquired by Downtown over the past 14 years and bring Concord’s owned and controlled music assets to more than 600,000 works.

Concord is an independent, worldwide leader in developing, managing and acquiring sound recordings, music publishing and theatrical performance rights. The catalog purchase includes works popularized by Adele, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Blake Shelton, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Grateful Dead, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Maroon 5, Marvin Gaye, Mary J. Blige, Mos Def, Mötley Crüe, New Order, Rage Against the Machine, Ray Charles, Santigold, Sam Smith, Stevie Wonder and The 1975, among many others.

“It was a pleasure to partner again with Concord on this acquisition, which showcased the comprehensive capabilities of our US and UK media and entertainment transactions and finance teams, our in-depth music industry knowledge and our extensive experience handling complex cross-border M&A transactions,” said Robert J. Sherman, co-chair of DLA Piper’s Entertainment Finance practice, who led the firm’s deal team.

In addition to Sherman, the DLA Piper team representing Concord included partner Peter Alfano (New York), partner Afshin Beyzaee and associate Payvand Coyle (both of Los Angeles) in the US and partner Mark Dwyer and associate Euan Cameron (both of London).

DLA Piper's market-leading international team of media, sport and entertainment lawyers, located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, advises on finance, borrowing, investment and corporate issues, production and rights acquisitions, exploiting media rights, staging and exploiting live sports and other events, intellectual property protection and enforcement, regulatory and administrative issues, antitrust and competition law, stadium and arena development and on the resolution of disputes.