LYRIC LIFTS SPIRIT

The newly formed Lyric Capital Group has taken over Spirit Music Group after a recapitalization led by COO Jon Singer, who becomes Chairman of the publishing company.

In addition to being chairman, Singer will be a Managing Partner of Lyric while Spirit’s Ross Cameron will retain an executive role at Spirit and become a Partner at Lyric. Spirit Chairman David Renzer will be leaving the company.

Music Business Worldwide reported that the capitalization is more than $350m. Pegasus Capital Advisors was Spirit’s previous majority owner.

"There is a powerful shift occurring within the music industry and this new dynamism means that Spirit is especially well-positioned for growth,” says Singer. “We are privileged to have major institutional investors on board, providing us with additional capital to grow.”

The capital raise is expected to allow Spirit, which owns and manages 75,000 copyrights and master recordings, to leverage the surging interest in music publishing assets.

Among its most notable songwriters and writer/artists are Pete Townshend, Henry Mancini, Doc Pomus, James Bay and Alan and Marilyn Bergman.