Reservoir Media Acquires Rights to Century Media’s Publishing Catalog

UPDATE, 3:34pm EDT: A representative from Reservoir Media has contacted MetalSucks to inform us that Reservoir did not acquire the rights to Century’s publishing catalog from Sony. Sony never owned the rights to Century’s publishing catalog; rather, Reservoir acquired the rights directly from Century.

Original Post: 

This coming August will mark the two-year anniversary of Sony’s acquisition of long-running metal label Century Media for $17 million.

But already Sony is parting with some of the assets it acquired in the deal: Billboard reports that Reservoir Media has purchased the publishing catalog of Century Media for an undisclosed sum. Reservoir will acquire the rights to 9,000 songs spanning more than 350 songwriters, including rights to compositions by Shadows Fall, Deicide, Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, In This Moment and Suicide Silence.

It’s difficult to say what prompted Sony to sell Century’s assets so soon after acquiring them without knowing more about the deal. Were those assets worth less than originally believed, as rumors have suggested? Is Sony trying to cut their losses? Or did they simply get a great offer from Reservoir they couldn’t turn down?

Whatever the case, it doesn’t bode well for Century, a label that’s often found itself in trouble and has laid off dozens of employees over the past several years.

We’ll let you know if we’re able to find out any more details about the deal.

[via Lambgoat]