Sony Music Group’s publishing arm is negotiating with Blackstone in what could be a deal to acquire all of Recognition Music Group’s publishing assets, according to sources. The move comes on the heels of two prior asset sales by Blackstone to Sony, and also after the private equity firm assigned Sony Music Publishing to be the primary administrator of its song catalog.
Since 2017, Blackstone has amassed a portfolio of an estimated $4 billion in music assets, acquired by two of its separate investment teams. Beginning in 2021, a London-based Blackstone investment team spent around $800 million on music assets via Hipgnosis Songs Capital, and bought the administration arm of Hipgnosis Songs Management, before subsequently acquiring the publicly traded music catalog assets of Hipgnosis Songs Fund for $1.6 billion in April 2024. Before that, in January 2017, a New York-based investment team acquired SESAC for $1 billion, while in 2021, that team also acquired eOne Music, which it renamed MNRK Music Group, for $385 million.
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Subsequently, the Blackstone London team completed two asset-backed securitizations for a total of $1.842 billion against those former Hipgnosis assets, raising $1.47 billion in 2024 and another $372 million in mid-2025.
Along the way, in June 2025, Sony acquired Hipgnosis Songs Management — the administration arm of the rebranded Recognition Music Group — along with the contracts of the active current roster of songwriters and about 4,400 songs recorded by artists including Sabrina Carpenter and One Direction, for an undisclosed sum. In February 2026, Sony acquired a separate group of Recognition assets for more than $200 million, including works from songwriters including Jeff Bhasker and Jack Antonoff.
While one financial source suggests that the new potential deal only involves another piece of the Recognition catalog — similar to the first two deals between the two companies — other sources say that the possible deal being discussed is for the entire Recognition Music portfolio, which boasts some 45,000 titles and recordings from more than 145 catalogs, including songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young, Blondie, Justin Bieber, Shakira, Journey and Fleetwood Mac. If it’s the latter, sources suggest that deal valuation would come with a price tag of $2 billion or more.
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It’s unclear how Sony will finance the acquisition, but it’s not like the major doesn’t have enough resources of its own, let alone enough willing financial partners in other music assets acquisitions. In January of this year, Sony’s partnership with GIC, the Singapore sovereign fund, was announced with a commitment to invest up to $2 billion in music assets with the music giant. Prior to that, Apollo injected some $700 million into Sony’s deal to acquire Queen’s music assets, while Eldridge financially supported Sony’s acquisition of Bruce Springsteen’s music assets.
Meanwhile, all seems quiet currently on the SESAC front after a December 2024 initiative that saw Blackstone’s New York team fielding offers for the for-profit performance rights organization (PRO). This occurred after private equity interest in PROs was ignited by New Mountain Capital’s February 2024 acquisition of BMI and September 2024 press reports about negotiations for a majority stake in the boutique PRO Global Music Rights to trade hands from TPG to Hellman & Friedman. Ultimately, Blackstone didn’t get an offer rich enough to sell SESAC back then, according to sources who also say the PRO is not currently being shopped.
Both Sony and Recognition declined to comment for this story.
Elizabeth Dilts Marshall provided assistance in preparing this story.
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