Sony/ATV Spinning Off Rosetta's Catalog Of Music

For Sale

SONY/ATV is putting the ROSETTA PUBLISHING catalog up for sale. Songs in the catalog include many from artists such as '80s stalwarts TEARS FOR FEARS, CULTURE CLUB and DEVO. THE NEW YORK POST reports, "first-round bidders for the rights to some 30,000 songs include BMG RIGHTS, a joint venture of KKR and BERTELSMANN; G2 INVESTMENT GROUP and PRIMARY WAVE, which has teamed with OAKTREE CAPITAL. A slew of smaller bidders have also entered the fray. Among them, CANADA's OLE and PARIS indie firm BECAUSE MUSIC.

The sale is being made to appease the EUROPEAN UNION, for it's approval of SONY/ATV's $2.2 billion purchase of EMI PUBLISHING.

"There are really great singer-songwriters, and I think the breadth of artists is spread nicely. It's not too focused on one song or one genre," a source familiar with the process told THE POST.

Experts value the catalog at between $130-$150 million.

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