Overview
McDermott Will & Emery advised Downtown Music Holdings, the parent company of Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust, in its acquisition of AVL Digital Group and its portfolio of music distribution, rights management and artist services businesses.
Established in New York in 2007, Downtown Music Holdings is a leading music rights management company. Its songwriters were nominated for 18 Grammy Awards in 2019 alone and have contributed to multiple number one hit singles. The Songtrust division, a global royalty collection provider, serves over 170,000 songwriters and music publishers across 1.6 million song copyrights.
AVL’s client base now includes over 900,000 artists, labels and other rights holders, representing the largest independent sound recording catalog in the music industry. AVL’s portfolio companies, including AdRev, CD Baby, DashGo and Soundrop, distribute and monetize over 10 million tracks across popular content streaming services such as Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube.
AVL Digital and its portfolio companies will continue to operate as a separate subsidiary of Downtown Music Holdings following the acquisition. The transaction is expected to close in early April, pending customary closing conditions. Additional information is available in the company’s press release.
The McDermott team advising Downtown included Wilson Chu, David Lipkin, Joanna Lin, Thaddeus Chase Jr. and Elaine Kao.
