Influence Media Partners has signed an agreement to buy Anthem Entertainment's portfolio of music publishing and master recording rights, plus its film and television publishing assets, for more than $600 million. Billboard

The deal, signed on July 29, covers Anthem's stake in more than 24,000 released songs. Among them: Britney Spears' 'Oops!… I Did It Again,' Justin Timberlake's 'SexyBack,' Timbaland's 'The Way I Are,' Cody Johnson's 'Til You Can't,' Rush's 'Tom Sawyer,' and OneRepublic's 'Counting Stars.' The portfolio also includes soundtracks from the Spider-Man and Men in Black franchises and The LEGO Ninjago Movie.

Influence Media, founded in 2019 and based in New York, was initially backed by Warner Music Group before BlackRock — the world's largest asset manager — became its primary financing partner. The firm has previously invested in catalogues belonging to Blake Shelton, Future, Julia Michaels, Enrique Iglesias, and DJ Khaled. Lylette Pizarro McLean is Influence Media's founder and co-managing partner.

Billboard reported in June that Influence Media bid slightly above $650 million for Anthem's music assets, beating out around a dozen competing offers that ranged between $500 million and $600 million. Billboard

Anthem Entertainment, based in Canada, built its collection over two decades, according to chief executive Jason Klein. The company's catalogue spans pop, rock, country, and hip-hop, alongside film and television scoring assets.

The transaction remains subject to approval from the Canadian Heritage regulator — the government body that oversees cultural industry transactions involving Canadian companies. If cleared, the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

For fans, the songs themselves won't disappear or move behind paywalls. Catalogue acquisitions like this one transfer the ownership of rights — the ability to license, collect royalties, and decide how songs are used commercially — from one corporate owner to another. The music stays where listeners already find it, on streaming services and in films. What changes is which company collects the cheques.

The advisory roster on the deal reads like a legal conference. Truist Bank ran the debt financing and served as Influence Media's financial advisor. Influence Media's legal counsel came from three firms: Alter, Kendrick & Baron; McDermott Will & Emery; and McCarthy Tétrault. Clifford Chance and Stikeman Elliott advised BlackRock. On Anthem's side, Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial advisor, with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt serving as legal counsel. Paul Braude, chief investment officer of BlackRock's direct private opportunities group, oversaw the financing partner's involvement.

Music catalogue sales have drawn institutional money for years, as investors treat song royalties as a steady, long-life asset class. Influence Media's purchase of Anthem adds a large, genre-spanning library to a portfolio that already spans country, hip-hop, and Latin pop.