Alexi Cory-Smith, who exited BMG UK in December 2017, has launched what she describes as “a music firm for the digital age,” Bella Figura Music.
Cory-Smith will lead the corporate as its CEO, alongside co-founder and Head of Investments, Neelesh Prabhu, who beforehand led the worldwide investments division of BMG.
“I’ve at all times needed to have my very own music firm and after years in corporates the timing to take an entrepreneurial path felt proper,” Cory-Smith stated in a press launch on Tuesday (February 14).
In accordance with a profile in The Occasions, Cory-Smith and Prabhu launch their firm with upwards of EUR €30 million in backing from Freshstream, a London-based non-public fairness agency.
With backing from Freshstream, Bella Figura has been in a position to purchase Man Chambers’ publishing catalog, together with Robbie Williams hits equivalent to ‘Angels’, ‘Really feel’ and ‘Let Me Entertain You,’ along with David Grey’s file label IHT, which controls all of his albums from the breakthrough 1998 ‘White Ladder’ to the 2019 hit ‘Gold In A Brass Age.’
Grey, a British singer-songwriter, is intently concerned with Bella Figura Music, the brand new firm stated.
“I view David Grey and Man Chambers because the founding blocks on which we construct the enterprise. One is data, the opposite is publishing – each top of the range catalogues,” stated Cory-Smith.
David Grey commented on his take care of Bella Figura, saying: “I’ve been searching for a brand new associate for my music for fairly a while, so after I heard about Alexi and Bella Figura I believed it had the potential to be an excellent match.
“They struck me as an organization with severe ambitions, an eye fixed for element and a degree to show, and the truth that I had an excellent relationship with Alexi from her time at Chrysalis/BMG was undoubtedly a significant constructive too. The world of music and know-how is in a state of fixed flux and it’s very important to work with people who find themselves not solely attentive to its challenges, but in addition alert to its alternatives. I really feel very optimistic that with Bella Figura I’ve discovered simply that.”
Chambers, greatest identified for his work with Robbie Williams, stated: “I’m so happy to be working with Bella Figura. I believe Alexi is without doubt one of the most dynamic executives working within the music trade. Having Alexi on the helm of Bella Figura is an thrilling prospect for what’s a brand new and very important space for songwriters within the trade right this moment.”
As well as, Bella Figura says it has acquired a portfolio of rights from AWAL – the recorded music providers firm that was offered to Sony Music by Kobalt in a $430 million deal final 12 months.
This AWAL-divested portfolio of rights, says Bella Figura, contains shares in recordings by Placebo, David Grey, Wombats, Dashboard Confessional and extra; and US songwriter/producer Darrell Brown’s publishing shares in 25 songs together with hits for LeAnn Rimes and Keith City.
Freshstream, based on its web site, invests in rising companies primarily based in Western Europe, notably within the UK and Benelux markets. The corporate says it has €30 million to €100 million in fairness funding and sometimes buys majority stakes, “however with flexibility to take minority positions and make investments throughout the capital construction.”
Final 12 months, Freshstream invested in Nafinco, a Dutch full-service associate for unbiased pharmacies and UK-based omni-channel for secondhand automobiles, Large Motoring World.
Cory-Smith is a outstanding determine within the UK music trade. She joined BMG UK in January 2011, turning into SVP of BMG UK earlier than transitioning to EVP of the mixed BMG Chrysalis UK in 2013. She was later promoted to President, Repertoire and Advertising of BMG UK, in 2016, main the label’s Repertoire enterprise throughout each publishing and data.
At BMG, she helped handle among the group’s key mergers and acquisitions together with Chrysalis (publishing), Union Sq. (grasp catalogue advertising and marketing and licensing), ‘Rosetta’ (the Virgin/ Well-known Music publishing catalogue divestment by EMI) Mute and Sanctuary (Grasp Catalogue divestments by UMG), Infectious (frontline Report Label) and manufacturing corporations Altitude Music and Beds & Beats. She additionally supported the combination of Bug (Publishing) and the acquisition of UK writer Minder Music.
Cory-Smith additionally helped signal The Rolling Stones and Roger Waters, two of the best incomes worldwide acts within the BMG roster.
In the meantime, Prabhu additionally served a seven-year stint at BMG from 2011, working alongside Cory-Smith in BMG’s international investments / M&A division and taking care of groups in Berlin, LA, NYC, and London. Prabhu lately co-founded Singapore-based startup Insurtech.
Most lately, the duo launched Bella Figura Music, which goals to be a “purpose-built, artist-centric music firm,” that brings collectively main know-how and a relentless give attention to inventive excellence.
“I’m very happy with what we have now achieved in Bella Figura Music’s first 12 months of enterprise,” Cory-Smith added.
The manager stated the thought for Bella Figura Music’s title got here to her at an Italian deli when the waiter identified it could not be good for the ‘Bella Figura’ if she had ordered some cake.
“At that actual second, one in every of our advisors referred to as asking for the corporate title. And Bella Figura simply caught. It makes much more sense now when you think about that our firm is targeted on delivering lovely numbers and figures!
“I suppose I might have referred to as it Lemon Ricotta Cake. Or not. As a result of because it turned out, I left the deli with only a black espresso.”
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