Music deal targets gaming

Britain’s largest independent music publisher Chrysalis is to focus on the games industry following the completion of an 11m acquisition of First State Media Group.

The deal sees it win the rights to some 45,000 songs from a diverse range of artists, and Chrysalis says it hopes to make its money back by cutting costs and aggressively licensing the catalogue to video games and films”, The Times reports.

Included in the deal are the rights to artists such as Jay-Z, Robbie Williams, David Bowie, JLS, Blondie, Snow Patrol, Sheryl Crow and a select number of tracks from artists such as Michael Jackson and The Beatles.

Chrysalis chief executive Jeremy Las-celles said of the deal: Until recently all catalogue acquisitions were made by majors. But the dynamic has changed.”

The deal follows a big-money $200m move from Sony last week to acquire the Michael Jackson rights until 2017.