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Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Live Business
Sony Music buys into UK live firm Senbla
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 7 August 2019
Sony Music has further expanded its interests in live music in the UK by taking a majority stake in London-based concert promoter and production company Senbla. The deal has been done via the major’s Masterworks division.
Sony UK already has interests in live music via the Raymond Gubbay company, which it took complete control of last year after previously collaborating on the venture with German live firm DEAG. Senbla will still be run by its founder Ollie Rosenblatt following the new deal, but he will now collaborate with the Sony Music Masterworks team on future projects, and in particular COO Mark Cavell and UK Label Head Sarah Thwaites.
Confirming the transaction, Cavell took a deep breath and declared that: “Building on our very successful live business following the 100% acquisition of Raymond Gubbay Ltd last year, the opportunity to acquire a majority stake in Senbla and to work with the creative and entrepreneurial skills of founder and CEO Ollie Rosenblatt was exactly the right move for Sony Music Masterworks as we further expand our footprint in the area of quality live entertainment”.
Phew, that was a long sentence. “These acquisitions provide the perfect platform to grow this business exponentially both in UK and overseas”, he then added, more succinctly.
For his part, the there mentioned Rosenblatt declared: “I’m delighted to now be in partnership with the Sony Music Masterworks team. Senbla is about enhancing value for artists and the value of content. The combination of Senbla with Sony Music Masterworks gives us a broader platform to grow opportunities in live performance, not only for artists and content owners but also for consumers”.
