Charles GoldstockGoldState Music by GoldState has been quietly growing thanks to two back-to-back catalog acquisitions in the past six months.
According to sources, GoldState has committed about $200 million to acquire music publishing portfolios and recorded music rights revenue streams from two boutique music asset investment firms: CatchPoint Rights Partners in a deal that sources say closed last month. and AMR Songs, whose catalog GoldState acquired earlier this year.
CatchPoint's portfolio includes bets on songs like Kanye West's “Flashing Lights,” Sheryl Crow's “If It Makes You Happy” and Panic! On “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by The Disco, along with song and/or recording tracks from Brantley Gilbert, Smash Mouth, Avril Lavigne and others.
Meanwhile, the AMR catalog includes writer John Sebastian's share of all The Lovin' Spoonful songs, including “Summer In the City,” “Daydream” and “Do You Believe In Magic,” as well as all rights from Sebastian's solo catalog. featuring “Welcome Back”. AMR has also invested in SOJA's catalog from the band's inception to 2020 — covering music publishing and artist rights and various master recordings — as well as stakes in songs by the likes of Macy Gray and Ivan Neville.
While the list above includes artist names, the two companies have also invested in co-writer shares or producer credits in artist rights — and their websites don't always specify, when referring to song and recording investments, which assets have been acquired.
Combined, the two companies' catalogs had about $7 million in annual income, or a total of $14 million, in a combination of music assets that split roughly 50/50 active and passive income, sources say. (Passive income would be the writer's share of a song owned and controlled by a publisher or the artist royalty revenue stream from a master recording owned by a label. Active income would be ownership of the song publishing and/or of the master recordings.)
Goldstuck has a long history in the music industry, having held senior management positions at companies such as Arista Records, Capitol Records, J Records and RCA before becoming president/COO of Bertelsmann Music Group. Most recently, he was co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment, which was sold to Concord. In addition, Goldstuck is the founder of The Sanctuary At Albany, described as a state-of-the-art recording studio in the Bahamas, and is also currently the executive chairman of TouchTunes Interactive Networks, the digital jukebox company with more than 80,000 locations, according to with his LinkedIn profile.
The GoldState Music website states that Goldstuck founded the investment company GoldState in 2022 and lists Flexpoint Ford, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Regions as her financial backers. The site also includes TouchTunes, The Sanctuary at Albany and Create Music as part of GoldState Music's development portfolio. In June, GoldState Music participated in Flexpoint Ford's $165 million funding round in Create Music Group, although the amount it invested was not disclosed.
Prior to making the latest catalog acquisitions, Goldstuck began acquiring music copyrights on its own, including purchasing—based on the GoldState website—music rights from artists such as DJ/EDM artist Alan Walker, the Christian group Anberlin, Pop singer Daya, punk band Dead Kennedys and legendary soul singer Sam Moore, among others. The company's website does not specify which rights to these artists it has acquired.
Moving on to bigger acquisitions, such as the recent CatchPoint portfolio and AMR Songs deals, Goldstate so far seems to have avoided iconic songs and catalogs trading at frothy prices and multiples and instead opted to buy the catalogs of two companies, which separately in you own niche genres and name artists—but not superstars—whose music royalties generate steady income streams traded at more reasonable rates.
CatchPoint was founded in 2020 by a former BMI executive Rich ConlonWall Street executive Patrick Riordan and PJ Miklusbusiness executive with experience in finance and the music industry. Sources suggest that CatchPoint sold its song portfolio to GoldState as a proof of concept to potential investors. The sources add that the company has not sold all of the music assets in its catalog and has funding for further acquisitions of music assets.
Meanwhile, AMR was founded by Tamara Conniffformer music publishing executive at companies including Roc Nation and Artist Publishing Group and Wall Street private equity executive Steve Reinstadtler. According to the GoldState website, Conniff and some of her team have joined GoldState's staff.
Executives at GoldState, Catchpoint and AMR either did not return calls seeking comment or declined to comment on the transactions.
