Charles GoldstuckGoldState Music is quietly growing thanks to two back-to-back catalog acquisitions in the past six months.
GoldState has spent about $200 million to acquire a portfolio of music publishing and recorded music royalty revenue streams from two boutique music asset investment firms: CatchPoint Rights Partners, a deal sources said closed last month; and AMR Songs , whose catalog GoldState acquired earlier this year.
The CatchPoint portfolio includes songs such as Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights,” Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” and Panic! “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” at The Disco also features song excerpts and/or recordings from Brantley Gilbert, Smash Mouth, Avril Lavigne and others.
Meanwhile, the AMR catalog includes John Sebastian’s writing credits on all of The Lovin’ Spoonful songs, including “Summer In the City,” “Daydream” and “Do You Believe In Magic,” along with Seb All rights reserved to Stian’s personal directory, including “Welcome Back”. AMR also invested in SOJA’s catalog from the band’s inception until 2020 – covering music publishing, artist royalties 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 also invest in co-writer shares in songs or producer credits in artist royalties — and their websites don’t always specify what has been acquired when citing investments in songs and recordings. Which assets.
All told, sources said, the two companies have about $7 million in annual recording revenue, for a combined $14 million, with the music portfolio split roughly 50/50 between active and passive income. (Passive income is an author’s share of a song owned and controlled by a publisher, or an artist’s stream of royalty income from a master recording owned by a record label. Active income is ownership of song publishing and/or master recording .
Goldstuck has a long history in the music industry, having held senior management positions at Arista Records, Capitol Records, J Records and RCA before becoming President/COO of Bertelsmann Music Group. Most recently, he served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment, which was later sold to Concord. In addition, Goldstuck is the founder of The Sanctuary At Albany, a state-of-the-art recording studio in the Bahamas, and is currently the executive chairman of TouchTunes Interactive Networks, a digital jukebox company with over 80,000 locations, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Goldstuck founded GoldState Investments in 2022 and lists Flexpoint Ford, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Regions as its financial backers, according to the GoldState Music website. The site also lists TouchTunes, The Sanctuary at Albany and Create Music as part of GoldState Music’s growing portfolio. In June, GoldState Music participated in Flexpoint Ford’s $165 million financing of Create Music Group, but the amount of investment was not disclosed.
Prior to its latest catalog acquisition, Goldstuck first acquired music intellectual property on its own, including purchasing the music rights of recording artists such as EDM DJ/artist Alan Walker, Christian group Anberlin, pop star Daya, punk band Dead Kennedys and legendary soul, according to the GoldState website Singer Sam Moore and more. The company’s website does not specify which rights it has acquired from these artists.
When it comes to making larger acquisitions, such as the recent CatchPoint portfolio and AMR songs deals, Goldstate has so far appeared to eschew iconic songs and catalogs that trade at frothy prices and multiples, opting instead to buy both companies’ Catalogs, the music copyright assets of niche genres and well-known artists (but not superstars) that the two companies pursue respectively can generate a steady revenue stream and be traded at more reasonable prices.
CatchPoint was founded in 2020 by former BMI executives Richie ConlonWall Street executives Patrick Riordan and PJ Miklusa business executive with a background in finance and the music industry. Sources say CatchPoint is selling its song portfolio to GoldState as a proof of concept to potential investors. The source added that the company is not selling all the music assets in its catalog and has funds available for further acquisitions.
Meanwhile, AMR was founded in Tamara ConniffFormer music publishing executive at companies including Roc Nation and Artist Publishing Group, as well as Wall Street private equity executive Steve Reinstadtler. Conniff and some of her team have already joined the GoldState staff, according to the GoldState website.
Executives at GoldState, Catchpoint and AMR either did not respond to calls seeking comment or declined to comment on the deal.