NEAR TRUTHS:
THAT FIRST BILLION

EVER-WIDENING SCOPE: The January 2022 opening of an immersive Tupac Shakur museum exhibit in downtown L.A.—expected to be not only technically groundbreaking but historically and thematically deep—will kick off an extended period of pop-cultural visibility for Interscope and its artists.

The Tupac show, Wake Me When I’m Free, will coincide with the label’s 30th anniversary celebration and the Dr. Dre-curated Super Bowl halftime show, also in L.A.

All of which should make this Grammy season particularly memorable for John Janick and team. The company has enjoyed historic back-to-back years as marketshare leader and is widely regarded as the top label in the business.

Janick made the “G” in IGA pop this year as well; Olivia Rodrigo’s emergence as 2021’s breakout star gave Geffen the #2 album (it will be Top 3 at year’s end, an incredible achievement), a staggering stream count, radio dominion and media ubiquity.

What’s next for the Janick-led army now that it's also had some genuine success in film production (the acclaimed Billie Eilish picture, the Elle Fanning feature Teen Spirit)? Rumor has it the empire is poised to take another giant step under his leadership.

FUND FACTS: It’s believed that Merck Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis has about 75 deals in play for the first $1 billion (yes, we said “first billion”) of the Blackstone fund he’s been charged with spending on catalog.

As Merck, Primary Wave boss Larry Mestel, the major pubcos and an array of funds and entrepreneurs with varying levels of biz savvy all set their sights on the remaining big prizes, which superstar song trove will be the next to go? As we reported a while back, Bruce Springsteen, with the able assistance of Jon Landau and Allen Grubman, is on the cusp of a massive publishing/recordings deal with Sony. It was a great week for Grubman, who also did Lionel Richie’s big pub deal with UMPG.