They just can’t get enough! Music publishing firm BMG Rights is said to have snapped up the British music label, Mute, which houses eighties act “Depeche Mode” and “Erasure.”
Mute is being sold as part of a package of divestments by Universal Music Group, as it looks to finalize its deal to acquire EMI’s recorded music business.
Mute looks to be BMG Rights’ first recorded music asset. The KKR-Bertelsmann owned music publishing company just bagged the Rosetta collection of music rights being sold by Sony/ATV. Rosetta also held mostly eighties hits.
Mute is said to be valued at around $10 million. BMG is still in the running for Universal’s other assets which include Parlophone. Mute was acquired by EMI in 2002 for $37 million (or GBP 23 million)
“Per our agreement with the European Commission, we have begun the sale process of divested assets with the acquisition of the Mute Catalogue by BMG Rights Management,” Universal said in a statement. “We know that BMG will provide a good home for Mute’s artists. Moving forward, we are confident that with our sales strategy and the number of parties that have expressed interest in the remaining assets, we will be able to create exactly the level of value that we would expect from the quality of these divestments.”
A rep for BMG couldn’t immediately be reached.