#012 | Metro Boomin Sells Part of His Music Catalog For $70 Million!

Muse-Letter 012 - March 20, 2023

Yoooooo! What's up fam!

Welcome back to The Muse-Letter. This week, we are looking into well-known producer Metro Boomin’s latest lucrative deal, and the breakdown of legendary producer Kenny Beats’ song “Still” from the album he created for his Dad.

I hope you are all enjoying the topics I’ve been writing about. If there is anything you want to see more of, remember to reach out on my socials or comment on my YouTube videos to let me know.

I appreciate you having a read and being part of the Muse-Letter community. Let’s get into it.

This Week in Producer News 📰

Metro Boomin Sells Part of His Music Catalog for $70 Million

Things are paying off for Metro Boomin, quite literally.

News from Billboard tells us that the well-known producer, Metro Boomin has jumped on the popular trend amongst hip-hop artists and sold some of this publishing catalog for about $70 million to an investment firm called ‘Shamrock Capital’.

Some other artists involved in the trend are Future, who sold the publishing rights to his 600+ song inventory from 2004-2020 for about $65-$75 million last year in September. Before Future, 90% of the late Juice WRLD’s estate was quietly sold of publishing ownership and 90% master income interest for an unreleased amount but is known to be at least 9 figures. We don’t know the amount of Metro Boomin’s inventory sold to Shamrock Capital but I imagine it was quite a bit considering the amount of cash he got for the transaction.

This isn’t the first time Shamrock has made a deal like Boomins’. In 2020, they bought Taylor Swift’s catalogue of her first six albums. The catalogue was owned by Scooter Braun at the time, who owns the label Big Machine Records that Swift used to be under.

Boomin has a sick catalogue of his own music but has also been part of many classic rap hits like Kanye West’s “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1,” Migos’ “Bad and Boujee,” and Drake and Future’s “Jumpman.” As an independent artist, Boomin has released a couple of collaborative albums with rappers like Big Sean, Offset, NAV and 21 Savage.

Boomin has had epic collaborative success but is also making a name for himself and his own artist with his 2018 debut NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES which recognised him as an individual artist. More recently, his December release of the album HEROES & VILLAINS confirmed his place as an idol in this generation of hip-hop artists. This album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 185,000 units in its first week.

There isn’t a lot of information on the deal with Shamrock as it hasn’t been made public, so we don’t know if the publishing rights for NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES and HEROES & VILLAINS are part of the deal. However, what we do know is Metro Boomin has made a name for himself in the rap community and is reaping the rewards for it.

Article of the Week 📜

Kenny Beats breaks down his song “Still” on Song Exploder

I spoke of Kenny Beats in an earlier Muse Letter on his performance at Tiny Desk Concert. Kenny’s a sick hip-hop producer who’s been making and producing beats with and for artists since 2010. Last year, he decided to do something different, and instead of collaborating with artists for an album, he decided to create and release his own. The album is called Louie and it’s a tribute to Kenny’s Father who has pancreatic cancer.

The episode dives into Kenny talking about the moment he learned of his Dad's diagnosis while recording in England with the band ‘Idles’. Kenny Beats is named after his Dad who is Kenneth Charles Blume ll, making him Kenneth Charles Blume lll. After learning of his Dad’s diagnosis, he sought out all the recordings of the two of them, giving us sneak peeks of these in the episode. Kenny’s Dad used to make mixtapes and together they would record introductions on the mixtape. Kenny’s Dad wanted to be a radio host, and the dream never came to light so he made the mixtapes for fun and to live out the dream in his own way.

This gave Kenny the idea to create something dedicated to his Dad. Something different than just a gift, but rather a composition of music telling a story to his Dad whom he loves more than anything despite their rocky relationship.

Kenny started the album in 2021 and searched for inspiration for the first song by listening to gospel records. That’s when he heard Lynda Kemp. As the record played and the line “I can’t stop loving you” sang out, Kenny thought of his Dad and knew he had to sample this for the first track.

Kenny talks about how his Dad struggled with addiction and the years they went without talking, but that his Dad made him who he is and wouldn’t be who he was without him. Kenny then had JPEGMafia and Omar Apollo jump on the track to create a masterpiece. It’s sick to listen to the creative process and how Kenny’s mind worked as he built the layers to the track.

Song exploder is a really cool podcast if you’re interested in learning the breakdown of your favourite songs, and getting a first-hand look into what the artists were thinking as they composed them. I highly recommend giving it a look and especially listening to Kenny Beats’ episode into how he made “Still”

If you want to check out the episode on Song Exploder, click on the link below.

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-Ocean