Influence Media Partners, the New York company backed by funds managed by BlackRock, has agreed to acquire the music catalogs of Canada's Anthem Entertainment, which include songs recorded by Rush, in a deal announced on July 29, 2026. The price is reported at over $600 million, with earlier reports putting it near $650 million. Closing is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions.
What changes hands
The seller is Anthem Entertainment, whose controlling shareholder is the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. The package includes Anthem's music publishing catalogs, its film and TV publishing assets and its master recording portfolio. In total it covers more than 24,000 released songs and over 60,000 unexploited works. Truist provided debt financing and acted as financial advisor to Influence Media, while Goldman Sachs was exclusive financial advisor to Anthem.
The catalog
- Rush: one of the best-known rock catalogs in the package.
- Pop songwriting: works connected to Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and OneRepublic.
- Country: songs linked to Cody Johnson, Jordan Davis, Shane Profitt and Chris Janson.
- Film and TV music: soundtrack works from the Spider-Man, Men in Black and LEGO Ninjago franchises.
Why it matters
This is one of the largest catalog transactions of 2026 and a clear sign that institutional capital is still flowing into music rights. It is also a sale between two financial owners: a pension fund exiting and a BlackRock-backed platform buying. Influence Media, co-founded by Lylette Pizarro McLean, has already acquired catalogs from Future, Enrique Iglesias, Blake Shelton and DJ Khaled, and launched the SLANG label and publisher in 2024.
For rightsholders, the scale of the deal shows that diversified portfolios mixing publishing, masters and screen music command premium attention. The large pool of unexploited works is also notable: buyers are paying for future activation potential, not only current income.