After securing $100 million to purchase film and TV music rights, Cutting Edge forms a strategic joint venture with Village Roadshow Entertainment

Cutting Edge Media Music (CEMM), a division of Cutting Edge Group led by Philip Moross, has agreed to co-found a new strategic music company Village Roadshow entertainment group (VREG).

According to a press release, the deal includes all of the latter’s past and future music publishing, soundtrack album releases and music monitoring services.

According to CEMM, the deal also extends to VREG’s music holdings for film, scripted and unscripted television.

The current film and TV titles from VREG include CINAMMON And MURDER CITYPart of the Black Noir Cinema initiative with Kevin Garnett’s content Cartel and Fox’s free streaming platform Tubi.

The assets also include the Peyton and Cooper Manning-hosted Capital One College Bowl, which recently aired its second season on NBC.

VREG claims to build “premier, content-rich companies in the entertainment industry.” The company, which says it “produces, acquires and supplies” intellectual property, is the holding company of Village Roadshow Pictures and Village Roadshow Television.

Private equity firms Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors acquired a majority stake in Village Roadshow in 2017.

One of those companies, Vine, announced in 2020 that it had acquired the song catalog of Grammy-winning, multi-platinum producer, songwriter and DJ Calvin Harris for an undisclosed fee.

Brian McNelis, head of Cutting Edge’s television and video game soundtrack department Lakeshore Recordssaid the deal with Village Roadshow “is a privilege that allows us to leverage our expertise to create more robust, music-based opportunities that are mutually beneficial to both companies.”

McNelis will lead the new project alongside Lakeshore’s Eric Craig, who will support the music supervisor and music department.

Louis Santor, VREG’s Chief Operating Officer, will oversee the implementation of all aspects of the agreement between the two companies.

“Music plays an important role in building a story that connects audiences across all media. We couldn’t think of a better partner than the team at CEMM to oversee the execution of such an important aspect of our film and TV slate and look forward to what’s to come.”

Louis Santor, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group

Santor said, “Music plays an important role in building a story that connects audiences across all mediums. We couldn’t think of a better partner than the team at CEMM to oversee the execution of such an important aspect of our film and TV slate and look forward to what’s to come.”

British-born CEMM operates as a financier, publisher and record label. It has so far provided a range of music services for more than 1,000 feature films, television shows, musical theater productions and video games, as well as films and television shows such as Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery, Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Moonlight Ridge, and The Walking Dead.

“We are thrilled to be working with the company behind some of the most iconic films of the last 25 years and we look forward to scaling this new company focused on the music interface of conglomerate Village Roadshow Entertainment Group together. “

Tara Finegan, Cutting Group

It also has music for Broadway shows such as Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia and My Fair Lady; and triple AAA games like Sunset Overdrive, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption And Cyberpunk 2077.

Tara Finegan, COO of Cutting Edge Group, commented on the partnership with VREG, “We are thrilled to be working with the company behind some of the most iconic films of the last 25 years and we look forward to scaling this new company, focused.” to the musical intersection of the Village Roadshow Entertainment Group conglomerate.”

The partnership with VREG comes just two weeks after CEMM received $100 million in funding from a banking group led by Pinnacle Financial Partners.

The funding came over a year after Cutting Edge Music partnered with subsidiaries of London-based investment firm Blantyre Capital to acquire music publishing rights from composers who write music for film and television. CEMM and Blantyre affiliates initially committed $125 million to the plan.

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