Firebird takes flight, acquiring a stake in Red Light Management – with more deals on the way
At the beginning of this year, Worldwide music business told you We will be closely monitoring the moves of Nat Zilkha – a respected deal producer with proven pedigree in the music industry.
US-based Zilkha has left its Partner role at KKR in December 2021. He spent the previous 15 years at the investor, where he was instrumental in major deals related to various music regarding people like Ryan Tedder, BMGand others.
Announcing his departure from KKR last year, Zilkha teased that he would soon be launching “a new business endeavor, focused on the music industry”, while maintaining his role as President of Gibson Brands (and also continues to act as a senior advisor to KKR ).
If you have checked out Zilkha’s LinkedIn todayyou will know that after leaving KKR he became the co-founder and Executive Chairman of a new business called Firebird Music Holdings. He describes the Aspen, Colorado-based company as a “music-centric, artist-centric media company.”
Over the past few weeks, MBW has learned more about Firebird and its strategy of acquiring rapidly growing music companies – especially artist management companies – of various shapes and sizes.
We learned through our sources such as Los Angeles-based Firebird co-founder Zilkha Nathan Hubbardformer CEO of Ticketmaster and former Head of Global Communications & Commerce at Twitter.
We also learned that the main backer of Firebird is Raine’s groupan existing investor in music companies like SoundCloudC3 Presentation, and Entertainment.
(In addition to her own mergers and acquisitions, Raine has also served as an advisor on recent notable deals, including discount music game company Harmonix arrive Epic game (2021) and Alamo Records’ sell nine figures arrive Music by Sony (all year 2021).)
Firebird and its logo are now available on the Raine Group website, in investment portfolio.
Biggest move Firebird has made to date?
According to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, they have acquired a substantial minority stake in one of the world’s oldest artist management companies: Red Light Management.
Red Light was founded by Coran Capshaw – who continues to lead the company – 31 years ago.
Today, Red Light operates multiple offices on both sides of the Atlantic, represent the artist including Alabama Shakes, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews Band, Interpol, Lady A, Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, Phish, The Strokes, and many more.
(MBW has reached out to Coran Capshaw for comment on this story but did not receive a response prior to publication.)
“Firebird is going after at least some management companies right now, and not just in the US. They seem to have a large amount of capital to play with. “
Source MBW
Aside from Firebird’s acquisition of its stake in Red Light, none of its other acquisitions haven’t broken the envelope.
But we know for sure there to be Other deals: An MBW source with knowledge of the various M&A approaches undertaken by Firebird in recent months said: “Firebird is currently pursuing at least some management companies, not just in U.S.A. They seem to have a large amount of capital to play with. “
A slide in a deck was recently sent out by Firebird to potential acquisition customers and seen by MBW that “Firebird has artist management at its core.”
The deck says this approach allows Firebird to “benefit from all revenue streams” around the artist, including “streaming, live, selling IP, etc.”
On her LinkedIn profile, Nat Zilkha writes: “We built Firebird to match high-profile talent and empower them with a passion for music, modern branding capabilities, and capital scale. finance.
“We work with independent artists, regulators, brands and publishers and technology providers to create an integrated ecosystem where advertising thrives.”
During his 15-year career at KKR, Nat Zilkha led or co-led KKR Credit from 2013 to 2020, during which time his assets under management grew from $13 billion to over $80 billion. He also co-founded KKR’s Special Situations and Opportunities strategy.
Zilkha’s additional leadership roles at KKR include overseeing KKR’s Public Equity investment strategies and acting as a senior member of the North American Private Equity business.Worldwide music business
