Muse Group, a company specializing in music creation tools and software such as MuseScore, Ultimate Guitar, and Audacity, has acquired Hal Leonard, a publisher of sheet music and educational content.
The acquisition was supported by a “growth investment” from US-based private equity firm Francisco Partners, which acquired Native Instruments in January 2021 and acquired a majority stake in Cobalt Music Group last year.
Muse Group and Hal Leonard both have their respective headquarters in the United States and Cyprus.
Muse Group’s new backer, Francisco Partners, reports that it has invested in: 400 Technology company. In addition to Native Instruments and Kobalt Music Group, Francisco Partners also previously invested on the ticket sales technology platform Eventbrite.
According to a press release, the new combined company (Muse Group) will use Francisco Partners’ investment to “accelerate organic and inorganic growth and actively explore partnerships with innovators in this space.” That’s what it means.
Francisco Partners’ investment amount was not disclosed.
According to the companies, Hal Leonard “revolutionized print music publishing in the 1940s by providing the first arrangements of popular songs to school bands.”
Today, Hal Leonard’s exclusively licensed premium arrangements include some of the world’s most famous artists and scores, from Taylor Swift and the Beatles to John Williams and Disney soundtracks.
Meanwhile, Muse Group’s predecessor, Ultimate Guitar, sparked what the company calls “a similar revolution in the late 1990s” by providing tablature to guitarists during the Internet’s “formative years.”
The company reports that only Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore are significant. 300 million Annual visitors or more 40 million account.
Combined with more than 3 million tabs and songs from Muse Group’s Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore, the joint venture says it now includes more than 800 content libraries. 5.5 million Scores, tablature, books, video courses, backing tracks, presets.
“This partnership will create more music creators around the world, lead to further advancements in music education technology, and expand the ways creators and rights holders can make their musical works more widely available. To do.
Larry Morton, Hal Leonard
“This partnership will create more music creators around the world, further advance music education technology, and make musical works more widely available to creators and rights holders,” said Larry Morton, chairman of Hal Leonard. The methods will also expand.”
“Hal Leonard and Muse have worked closely together in a commercial partnership for over 15 years, during which time we have built trust and mutual respect.
“Combining the strengths of both companies is a truly exciting prospect, full of potential to grow the music industry in new directions.”
“Our passion for improving the lives of all musicians has always been at the heart of Muse Group, and we are very excited to partner with the team at Hal Leonard, who share that passion.”
Eugenie Naidenov, Muse Group
“Our passion for improving the lives of all musicians has always been at the heart of Muse Group, and the team at Hal Leonard shares that passion,” said Eugenie Naidenov, CEO of Muse Group. We are very excited to be partnering with them.”
“We are excited to partner with Muse Group and Hal Leonard to enable our two companies to work together and help guide the joint venture into its next phase of growth.”
Matt Spetzler, Francisco Partners
Matt Spetzler, partner and co-head of Europe at Francisco Partners, said: “We are excited to partner with Muse Group and Hal Leonard to enable the integration of our companies and help guide the joint venture into its next phase of growth.
“The combined business will provide our customers with unparalleled content and technology focused on music learning across digital, print and education channels.”
“We are excited to provide customized capital solutions to support this transaction and look forward to supporting the combined company’s innovative growth strategy.”
Lee Rubenstein, Francisco Partners
“We are excited to provide customized capital solutions in support of this transaction and support the combined company’s innovative growth strategy,” said Lee Rubenstein, Managing Director of Francisco Partners. I’m excited to be able to do it.”world music business