Cutting Edge Media Music

21/06/2024

Cutting Edge’s White Stork Music division, the publishing company founded by U.K. composer Tom Howe, has entered a partnership with U.K. production company Touchdown Films. White Stork will now provide Touchdown with finance, world-class music services and access to White Stork’s catalog of music for current and future productions. White Stork retains intellectual property rights to its original music composed for Touchdown’s slate of projects.

Full story via Billboard: https://www.billboard.com/pro/spin-doctors-primary-wave-concord-mount-kimbie-publishing-news/

30/04/2024

Cutting Edge has been nominated for Best Television Soundtrack at The Ivors Academy, for Slow Horses: https://ivorsacademy.com/awards/the-ivors/

26/04/2024

Cutting Edge Group completed a $500 million debt refinancing with four banks led by Fifth Third Bank and Northleaf Capital Partners. The new credit facility will be used for corporate purposes as well as the acquisition of music rights from the roughly $1.5 billion pipeline of possible investments already identified by Cutting Edge.

“Cutting Edge has become a world leading music partner to the film and tv industries,” said Philip Moross, CEO of Cutting Edge Group, in a statement. “During that time, the structural trends driving our industries have accelerated exponentially, delivering a proliferation of digital platforms and content, matched by an increase in demand for media music usage. 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.”

TikTok's tickets partnership, Cutting Edge gets $500M and more music deals involving Universal Music Group, ASM Global, Audacy Sony Music and others.

25/04/2024

Cutting Edge Group has secured $500mn from a syndicate of four banks, led by US lender Fifth Third Bank and Northleaf Capital.

CEG will use the additional funds to buy and manage music rights, as well as finance new film and TV scores. The group is already in talks over more than $1bn of potential acquisitions, which could be further funded by bringing in third party investors.

CEG is a specialist in owning and managing music featured in film, TV, theatre productions and video games. Its existing portfolio of more than 2,000 titles includes the publishing rights to films such as Aquaman and distribution rights of The Jungle Book.

CEG, which was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur Philip Moross, also operates a business creating and managing portfolios of “wellness music”, which aids sleep or focus. Majority owned by Moross the company also provides music for spas and hotels around the world.

Moross, who is working with artists such as hip hop producer Timbaland producing wellness music, said the genre was popular on streaming platforms, with some tracks being streamed billions of times.

Music rights have become an increasingly popular investment on the back of rising revenues from streaming — which offers a growing income — with several specialist funds set up to own and manage the rights.

Full article available via Financial Times:

Debt funding will help Cutting Edge Group invest in creating and buying music rights for films, TV, theatre productions and games

17/01/2024

Grammy Award and Tony Award-winning producer Van Dean is launching his new record label, Center Stage Records. The new label already has over two dozen albums scheduled for the coming year, including exciting titles from Broadway, Off-Broadway, London’s West End, concept recordings and major Broadway solo artist recordings.

Most recently, Van Dean has been running Broadway Records under the ownership of Cutting Edge Group, which acquired the premier label from Dean in early 2020. The intention is for Center Stage to collaborate with Broadway Records on selected releases in the future and for Dean to consult for Broadway Records/Cutting Edge to aid in the transition. As part of Dean’s new venture, Center Stage will take over the management and distribution of nearly two thirds of the Broadway Records back-catalog with the remaining one third of titles staying with Broadway Records.

Under Cutting Edge, Broadway Records will continue as a leader in the musical theater album space, supporting its valuable retained catalog of titles, and releasing select new frontline cast albums including with its existing production partners such as The National Theatre in London.

Full article via BroadwayWorld:

Broadway Records Founder Van Dean is set to launch a new label called Center Stage Records, expanding his influence in the entertainment industry.

12/07/2023

BREAKING: Cutting Edge Media Music (CEMM) has acquired a majority interest in White Stork, the publishing company of award-winning UK composer Tom Howe. CEMM’s collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Tom Howe has produced original music for over 80 Emmy and BAFTA-winning dramas and documentaries, including shows such as Ted Lasso, The Great British Bake Off and Daisy Jones & The Six, as well as major motion pictures, such as Warner Bros. Wonder Woman and Legends of Tarzan.

The acquisition of White Stork adds to CEMM’s extensive catalog of music from popular films and TV series, including Hollywood blockbusters such as The King’s Speech and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, as well as high-profile video games like Cyberpunk 2077.

These assets are available for licensing for media and brands through the White Stork team.

CEMM acts as a financier, publisher, record label and has provided a range of music services to over 1,000 feature films, tv shows, musical theatre productions and video games, including such films and television shows including Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery, Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Moonlight Ridge, and The Walking Dead, as well as Broadway shows like Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, and My Fair Lady.

Full story from Music Business Worldwide:

CEMM's acquisition of White Stork follows its eight-figure deal with pop songwriter and producer Jamie Hartman in May…

31/05/2023

BREAKING: Cutting Edge announces an eight-figure deal with pop songwriter and producer Jamie Hartman, who’s written or co-written numerous hits for artists such as Lewis Capaldi, Celeste, Calvin Harris, Rag’n’Bone Man and the Backstreet Boys, among many others.

CEMM says it “will purchase the majority of Hartman’s back catalog royalties”, published through his deal with Reservoir Media, which includes hundreds of songs he’s written and collaborated on with artists including Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Calvin Harris, Kygo and Lewis Capaldi as well as songs for commercials, TV and film written with artists such as Carole King, Jennifer Hudson and Christina Aguilera.

The deal “represents a key move by CEMM to expand its reach beyond primarily instrumental composers and engage strategically with songwriters in the pop realm and other genres to capitalize on unique opportunities advantageous to both parties,” CEMM said in a statement.

Launched in the early 2000s, Cutting Edge operates as a financier, publisher, and record label. Its divisions include Lakeshore Records (a soundtrack label), Music.Film (a film and TV music licensing platform), Broadway Records (a musical theater label), Cutting Edge Music Publishing (a music publisher), 12on12 (specialty vinyl), White Stork (a custom music house) and CEG Analytics (royalty tracking & analysis). It has so far provided a range of music services to over 1,000 feature films, TV shows, musical theater productions and video games, including the TV shows Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Star Trek: Discovery and The Walking Dead. Films have included Drive, Fury, John Wick and Sicario, while major video games have included Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077. Its theatrical works have included such Broadway shows as Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, and My Fair Lady.

Full story via Music Business Worldwide: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/cutting-edge-strikes-eight-figure-deal-with-pop-songwriter-and-producer-jamie-hartman/

Celebrated songwriter Jamie Hartman’s career has straddled pop songs and film and TV.

24/03/2023

Continuing coverage of Cutting Edge Media Music's multimillion-dollar deal with the UK’s First Score Music: the transaction is said to encompass both the master and publishing rights behind north of 75 film scores. Featured within the latter is the original music from several movies by Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish’s Imaginarium Productions, the forthcoming animated adaptation of Animal Farm among them, according to CEMM.

The Cutting Edge Group subsidiary – which operates a soundtrack arm called Lakeshore Records as well as a namesake publishing unit – likewise relayed that the buyout includes the scores of Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Midway (2019), and STX-distributed Greenland (2020).

Additionally, Cutting Edge specified that the play extends to the score of Next Goal Wins. Directed by Taika Waititi (who also directed Thor: Love and Thunder and is married to singer-songwriter Rita Ora), Next Goal Wins is slated to debut this September.

Full story via Digital Music News:

Cutting Edge Media Music has announced a multimillion-dollar deal for the catalog of First Score Music, including the rights to 75+ scores.

23/03/2023

Cutting Edge Media Music has announced the acquisition of a major film music catalog from UK-based media company First Score Music Ltd.

The acquisition gives CEMM full master and publishing rights to more than 75 premium film scores, including the score for director Taika Waititi’s upcoming sports comedy-drama film Next Goal Wins starring Michael Fassbender, and the score for the upcoming animated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm from Andy Serkis.

Next Goal Wins includes a score by Academy Award and Emmy-winner Michael Giacchino, who composed themes for Up, The Incredibles, The Batman and Lost.

The deal will also see CEMM buying film scores by composers such as Carter Burwell, Christophe Beck, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Volker Bertelmann, John Debney, Benjamin Wallfisch, Andrew Lockington, David Newman, Rachel Portman, Mychael Danna, Craig Armstrong, David Buckley and Harald Kloser.

“This purchase brings Cutting Edge Media Music closer to its long-term goal in becoming the pre-eminent media music publisher and services provider in the world,” said Philip Moross, CEO and founder of Cutting Edge Group, CEMM’s parent company.

Cutting Edge Group COO Tara Finegan added: “Through CEMM and its divisions such as Lakeshore Records, CEMM can continue to invest in productions and provide a range of music services, including publishing the best original scores and releasing the best soundtracks.”

The acquisition marks CEMM’s latest investment since raising $100 million from a group of banks led by Pinnacle Financial Partners last month. In 2022, CEMM invested $125 million in buying film and TV music rights.

Nearly a month ago, the company agreed to form a strategic music venture with Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), covering the latter’s past and future music publishing assets, soundtrack album releases and music supervision services.

The deals come as music rights companies double down on investments in copyrights for film and TV scores.

Full story via Music Business Worldwide:

Company says acquisition gives it full master and publishing rights to more than 75 'premium'

27/02/2023

Cutting Edge Media Music (CEMM), a division of Cutting Edge Group led by Philip Moross, has agreed to form a new strategic music venture with Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG).

According to a press statement, the deal covers all of the latter company’s past and future music publishing assets, soundtrack album releases and music supervision services.

The deal also spans VREG’s music assets for film, scripted and unscripted television, according to CEMM.

VREG claims to build “premier, content-rich businesses in the entertainment industry”. The company, which says that it “produces, acquires and delivers” IP, is the holding company of Village Roadshow Pictures and Village Roadshow Television.

Private equity firms Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors acquired a controlling interest in Village Roadshow in 2017.

Brian McNelis, head of Cutting Edge’s TV & video game soundtracks division Lakeshore Records, said the deal with Village Roadshow “is a privilege which allows us to utilize our expertise to build more robust, music-based opportunities that are mutually beneficial to both companies.”

McNelis will oversee the new venture alongside Lakeshore’s Eric Craig, who will provide music supervision and music department support.

VREG Chief Operating Officer Louis Santor will lead in implementing all aspects of the deal between both companies.

Santor said, “Music plays an important role in building a story that connects with audiences across all mediums. We couldn’t think of better partners than the team at CEMM to oversee the implementation of such an important aspect to our film and TV slate and look forward to what’s to come.”

UK-born CEMM serves as a financier, publisher and record label. It has so far provided a range of music services to more than 1,000 feature films, tv shows, musical theatre productions and video games and films and television shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery,” Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Moonlight Ridge, and The Walking Dead.

It has also provided music to Broadway shows such as Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, and My Fair Lady; and triple AAA games like Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077.

Tara Finegan, COO of Cutting Edge Group, commented on the partnership with VREG, saying: “We are thrilled to work with the company behind some of the most iconic films of the last twenty-five years and we look forward to scaling this new venture, focused on the music intersection of the Village Roadshow Entertainment Group conglomerate, together.”

The partnership with VREG comes just two weeks after CEMM secured $100 million in financing from a group of banks led by Pinnacle Financial Partners.

The funding came over a year after Cutting Edge Music teamed up with affiliates of London-based investment firm Blantyre Capital to acquire music publishing rights owned by composers who write music for film and TV. CEMM and Blantyre affiliates had committed an initial $125 million to the plan.

Full story via Music Business Worldwide:

Deal covers all of VREG's past and future music publishing assets, soundtrack album releases and music supervision services…

14/02/2023

Exciting news: Cutting Edge Media Music has secured $100 million in financing from a group of banks led by Pinnacle Financial Partners.

Pinnacle Financial Partners, based in Nashville, manages nearly $2 billion in entertainment-related accounts with clients including artists, songwriters, international music label and publishing businesses, film and TV studios, and a slew of sports properties and other entities.

Cutting Edge’s capital raise follows last year’s news that it had partnered with London-based investment firm Blantyre Capital to commit $125 million to acquire film and TV music rights. Cutting Edge says that the funds from last year’s round “has been fully deployed”.

The new funds, announced today (February 14), will bolster CEMM’s cash reserves as it invests in music for film, television, video games and more.

CEMM is part of the wider Cutting Edge Group, a financing and investment company that also operates other units that provide music publishing, record label and other music services to feature films, TV shows, musical theatre productions and video games.

Led by founder and CEO Philip Moross, the group is known for providing music services to TV shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Moonlight, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery, Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Ridge, and The Walking Dead.

Cutting Edge also provides music to broadway shows like Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, and My Fair Lady; and triple-A video games such as: Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077.

Cutting Edge’s other business units include music publisher Cutting Edge Music Publishing, film, TV & video game soundtracks division Lakeshore Records, musical theatre soundtracks unit Broadway Records, licensing platform Music.Film and custom music house White Stork.

The company also owns wellness label Myndstream, home to artists who have collectively amassed billions of streams across Spotify, Apply, Pandora and Amazon.

Full story from Music Business Worldwide: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/after-investing-125m-over-the-past-year-cutting-edge-secures-another-100m-to-buy-film-and-tv-music-rights/

The initial $125m round 'has been fully deployed' according to the company…

08/02/2023

Please join us in congratulating Steph Economou for winning the first Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games/Interactive Media with "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarok"!

Full story: https://www.grammy.com/videos/assassins-creed-wins-best-score-soundtrack-video-games-interactive-media-2023-grammys-premiere-ceremony

The soundtrack can be enjoyed via Lakeshore Records: https://lnk.to/ACV-DOR3

Listen to Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök (Original Game Soundtrack) by Stephanie Economou.

01/01/2023

Happy New Year 2023! Liquid Mind from Cutting Edge's Myndstream wellness music label has just been featured in the The Times and The Sunday Times:

"It’s music as medicine, you know," Chuck Wild says. "It needs to be FDA-regulated. I wish they would.”

Freddie Moross, who runs Myndstream, concurs: “When you look at music that’s being relied upon in healthcare situations, it’s not regulated,” he says. “There’s no FDA [Food and Drug Administration] stamp saying this is music that should appear in surgeries. We want to try to accomplish this. What better place to start than with Chuck?”

Full article: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/has-this-musician-found-the-cure-for-insomnia-zhb7v9rkq?shareToken=e8adadd2c444d172bff0aff173f1511e

Chuck Wild is, in a way, just what you would expect from a man whose job is to put people to sleep. The 76-year-old sleep music star shows up at the airport nea

13/09/2022

Stranger Things has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Supervision at the 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Special congratulations to Series music supervisor Nora Felder, who won the award for the episode “Chapter Four: Dear Billy,” which includes Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” The song surged in popularity this summer and was featured as a motif throughout the fourth season of Stranger Things.

Additionally, Severance won Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. Join us in congratulating Composer Theodore Shapiro on his much-deserved Emmy Awards win for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. Listen: https://lnk.to/Severance1

Coverage via Pitchfork: https://pitchfork.com/news/emmys-2022-stranger-things-wins-best-music-supervision/

The series that took Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” to unexpected new heights picks up the win

08/09/2022

We are immensely sad to hear of the passing of Her Majesty, The Queen.

Remember her decades of service. The countless lives touched. The unwavering dignity. The Queen embodied the very spirit of the United Kingdom. Her life and her dedication to her country will be cherished -- and never forgotten.

Rest in Peace.

22/07/2022

Exciting news: Organizers of Whiplash in Concert said Thursday that the live concert series will have its world premiere October 28 at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre. In the concert, the film’s Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz will conduct an 18-piece jazz big band ensemble that will play Hurwitz’s score live accompanying the 2014 Damien Chazelle film.

The concert series is a co-production between Cutting Edge Group and Hurwitz Concerts in association with Bold Films, the latter the film’s producer. After Boston, the concert will play several dates including in Toronto on October 30, with a festival premiere in Seoul scheduled for November.

Full story, courtesy of Deadline Hollywood:

EXCLUSIVE: Organizers of Whiplash in Concert said Thursday that the live concert series will have its world premiere October 28 at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre. In the concert, the film’s O…

07/07/2022

Exciting news: Cutting Edge Media Music has inked a deal with Anton, which will have it invest in the company’s films All Fun and Games and Mother’s Instinct, in exchange for the corresponding rights to the films’ original scores. The deal comes following two successful collaborations with Anton Production on the Searchlight horror-thriller The Night House and the disaster pic Greenland starring Gerard Butler.

Full story, courtesy of Deadline Hollywood: https://deadline.com/2022/07/cutting-edge-media-music-anton-ink-deal-for-pair-of-starry-thrillers-1235059549/

EXCLUSIVE: Cutting Edge Media Music has inked a deal with Anton, which will have it invest in the company’s films All Fun and Games and Mother’s Instinct, in exchange for the correspond…

22/06/2022

Cutting Edge is honored to be included in FEBE Growth 100's 2022 list.

FEBE's partners include PwC, Boodles, Pictet Group, and Adoreum. The inaugural FEBE Growth 100® is a league table of Britain’s founder-led private companies with the fastest-growing sales. Companies are ranked by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in sales over their latest two financial years. Their entry criteria for 2022 are:

* UK-registered, independent, unquoted and ultimate parent companies

* Founders remain involved in the business

* Had sales between £3m and £200m in their latest financial year

* Made an operating profit in their latest financial year

* Did not show a decrease in sales from their penultimate to the latest year

* Had annualised sales of more than £200,000 in the base year, and traded for at least 6 months in that year

* Recruitment firms, payroll services providers and media agencies must show gross profits of at least £3m in their latest financial year

* Excluded companies include: pure property developers, financial trading companies, LLPs and companies with a turnover of £200m or more

See the full list at https://www.febe.com/

05/05/2022

Exciting news: Myndstream, the world's leading wellness music company, has partnered with Universal Companies, the world's top leading b2b supplier to the spa and wellness industry, to launch a subscription-based music service called myndstreamspa.com for the purpose of offering the highest quality curated spa music at reduced cost, while eliminating the licensing challenges spa owners face.

Full story via Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wellness-subsidiary-music-company-behind-130200632.html

myndstream, the world's leading wellness music company, has partnered with Universal Companies, the world's top leading b2b supplier to the spa and wellness industry, to launch a subscription-based music service called myndstreamspa.com for the purpose of offering the highest quality curated spa mus...

04/05/2022

News about Cutting Edge's wellness division, Myndstream:

"How do you stand out in a realm where 30-second recordings of falling rain are generating more streams than the likes of Lady Gaga some weeks? Myndstream, the label owned by UK-based Cutting Edge Group that’s home to a breadth of music for personal wellbeing, believes the quality of its roster speaks volumes and is making moves to get the word—and the music—out to even larger audiences."



Full story via Forbes:

Mood music is one of the industry's largest growth segments. But as evidenced by digging into some of the genre’s most-streamed songs on Spotify, not all mood music is created equal. Myndstream believes the quality of its roster speaks volumes and is making moves to get the word—and the music—...

02/05/2022

Exciting news: Cutting Edge Media Music has inked a slate partnership deal with Asbury Park Pictures, which will see it fund five of the company’s films in exchange for the corresponding original music publishing rights. Cutting Edge’s latest deal comes on the heels of its successful multi-year slate partnership deal with Thunder Road, of which Asbury Park is an expansion launched by Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee.

Full story available via Deadline Hollywood:

EXCLUSIVE: Cutting Edge Media Music has inked a slate partnership deal with Asbury Park Pictures, which will see it fund five of the company’s films, in exchange for the corresponding origina…

22/03/2022

Fantastic coverage from Music Week of Swizz Beatz involvement with 12On12, and the exciting future of vinyl.

Full article: https://www.musicweek.com/interviews/read/swizz-beatz-the-music-week-interview/085392

26/02/2022

Film news: Cutting Edge Media Music has secured the original music rights for the forthcoming horror film The Queen Mary from White Horse Pictures and Imagination Design Works. X-Men and Star Trek orchestrators Jason and Nolan Livesay have signed on to compose the score.

Full article from Deadline Hollywood: https://deadline.com/2022/02/morley-nelson-helming-uncontained-bondit-media-capital-boards-my-times-up-1234959665/

EXCLUSIVE: Police officer turned video game writer and technical director Morley Nelson (MIB: Alien Crisis, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct) is currently in production in Minnesota on Uncontain…

23/02/2022

Exciting news: Swizz Beatz, the Grammy winning producer, has partnered with 12on12 to release 1,000 hand-numbered vinyl albums of Long Live Jazz on Friday, February 25. The partnership with 12on12 builds from their prior collaboration in creating limited album releases for Travis Scott in partnership with Saint Laurent and with RUN DMC.

Swizz Beatz is not only the latest curator to work with 12on12 but he also comes on board as their new business partner. Acquiring a strategic stake in the high-end luxury vinyl brand, Swizz continues to build on 12on12’s reputation for unique ‘Vinylworks’ and bespoke limited collector’s editions by compiling his own exclusive 12” vinyl compilation.

Full story courtesy of Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericfuller/2022/02/23/legendary-producer-swizz-beatz-to-release-long-live-jazz-a-limited-edition-vinyl-on-friday-february-25th-2022/

Swizz Beats, the Grammy winning producer has partnered with 12on 12 to release 1,000 hand numbered vinyl albums of Long Live Jazz on Friday, February 25th.

19/02/2022

Continuing our coverage of Swizz Beatz acquiring a strategic stake in 12on12: here is a brand-new story from The Times and The Sunday Times about the man who has fueled sales of more than 350 million albums worldwide, hailed by Kanye West as "the best rap producer of all time".

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/at-home-with-swizz-beatz-and-alicia-keys-3tnn6mh2w

It is just another ordinary day in the Razor House, the glass clifftop masterpiece in California dubbed “the coolest house in America”. Its owner, Swizz Beatz,