Reservoir Strikes Deal for Chrysalis Records, Blue Raincoat Music
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Reservoir has struck a deal to bring UK-based music company Blue Raincoat Music and its subsidiary Chrysalis Records into its portfolio of offerings, according to an announcement from the company today. The deal includes master rights to Chrysalis Records’ entire catalog, which includes Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Generation X’s “Dancing With Myself,” and more.
Founded in 2014 by former Chrysalis Music CEO Jeremy Lascelles and Grammy-winning record producer Robin Millar, Blue Raincoat Music is home to a standalone operating record label that houses the Chrysalis Records catalog.
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The Chrysalis Records catalog represents more than 20,000 recordings ranging from the 1960s to 1990s. In addition to Sinead O’ Connor and Generation X, the catalog, acquired through divestment from Warner Music Group in 2016, includes recordings performed by The Specials, Debbie Harry, Suzi Quatro, Lucinda Williams, The Waterboys, Ultravox, and Everything But The Girl, among many others.
Founded in 1968 by Terry Ellis and Chris Wright, Chrysalis was one of the dominant independent labels of the ‘70s and ‘80s, with hits from many of the above artists as well as Blondie, Jethro Tull, Pat Benatar, Billy Idol, Huey Lewis & the News and others, although it has not retained the rights to all of its releases. Ellis and Wright sold the company to EMI in 1990 and 1991; its publishing was purchased by BMG Rights Management in 2010.
Reservoir was founded as a publisher in 2007 and has grown to represent over 110,000 copyrights and 26,000 master recordings dating back to the 1920s, ranging from songs by Hoagy Carmichael, and John Denver to Sheryl Crow and Phantogram.
Lascelles and Millar will maintain their positions running the Chrysalis Records label, as well as Blue Raincoat’s day-to-day business operations, including overseeing a staff of nearly two dozen based in London. Blue Raincoat’s management and publishing arms are not changed by this deal and will continue to operate separately under its existing structure led by Lascelles and Millar.
“Reservoir is committed to being a full-service music company, bringing the highest-quality and most diversified offerings to our growing roster of songwriters and artists,” said founder and CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi. “From the first meeting with Robin and Jeremy, it was evident that we had found the right partners to expand into the independent label business.”
“It goes without saying that this is a turning point at Reservoir and we are thrilled to be working with Robin, Jeremy, and the entire Chrysalis team towards the seamless integration of our two companies,” added Reservoir President and COO Rell Lafargue. “Given Reservoir’s platform and resources, we saw an immediate opportunity to bring all the synch work in-house and have already secured significant noteworthy synchs with Fidelity Investments, Lionsgate’s 3 From Hell and FX’s Pose..”
Millar explains, “The choice was an easy one on both sides. We each have huge respect for the other’s great team and how they operate. The shared dedication to supporting independent music with a global reach made the joining up the businesses ideal, with like-minded individuals and two companies respectively looking to expand their platforms and service offerings. Our relationship with Kobalt/AWAL is still in place for distribution and we will look to reignite that relationship with our new partners in Reservoir.”
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