It looks like The Weeknd is trying to raise a whopping $1 billion in funding backed by his music catalog. Bloomberg reports that the artist is willing to pledge his stake in publishing rights and master recordings. New York private equity firm Lyric Capital Group is leading the talks, and the hitmaker has contacted other investors.
Lyric has proposed a structure that would include $500 million in senior debt, $250 million in junior debt, and $250 million in equity.
At the time of writing, both The Weeknd and Lyric Capital Group have yet to publicly comment on the discussion. If a deal is made, it will be one of the biggest music rights transactions in recent history. Other artists who have used their catalogs for funding include Justin Bieber, John Legend, and more.
The Weeknd Tour
News of The Weeknd's latest move comes amid his "After Hours Til Dawn" tour, which is expected to come to a close next month with a show in New York City. So far, he's hit cities like Phoenix, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle, and more. Last week, he even surprised his fans in Atlanta by bringing out a very special hometown guest. This, of course, was Future.
He joined him onstage at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a performance of "Low Life," and as expected, the crowd went wild. A few days before that, he came out during The Weeknd's Miami show, where they also performed the collab.
That was far from the only surprise the Canadian hitmaker had for his fans in Florida, however. Playboi Carti has been a special guest on the tour as a special guest, and during his set in Miami, he brought out Ken Carson and Homixide Gang.
