Former Geffen Records president Neil Jacobson launching Music Acquisition Corp

There’s a new player in town, and it intends to buy-up big.

The former Geffen Records president Neil Jacobson is behind a new company, The Music Acquisition Corporation, which is planning to raise upwards of US$200 million by way of an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

Tim Ingram’s MBW has studied its SPAC S-1 prospectus, dated January 15, 2021.

If ever there was a company with an apt name, this is it. Jacobson’s latest venture will seek and buy quality assets in the music world, not unlike Merck Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which has embarked on a spree like few other businesses in recent memory.

“We intend to concentrate our efforts on identifying businesses that are either directly or indirectly connected to music, with particular emphasis on businesses where our specific expertise and positioning within the music industry will be a value-additive proposition to our targets,” the Music Acquisition Corp. prospectus reads.

Unlike Hipgnosis, which has spend more than US$1.7 billion on publishing catalogs, The Music Acquisition Corporation will cast its net across the broader areas of Audio Content, Technology, Social and Consumer.

Neil Jacobson

Streaming, social media and micro-content has “given significant rise to the various ways consumers discover, engage and share music. This increase in consumption across device and format has led to increased monetization opportunities of music content, supporting the continued growth in music industry revenues,” the prospectus continues.

According to the document, the venture plans to float imminently NYSE under the ticker TMAC.U, with Jacobson as CEO and chairman of The Music Acquisition Corporation.

Also, Todd Lowen, an experienced finance and investment professional with stints at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital, will be COO, and its directors include Michael Levitt, Ben Silverman and Babatunde “Tunde” Balogu.

“We believe that our management team’s extensive experience acquiring, operating and growing businesses in the music sector, coupled with their vast network of leading industry executives, entrepreneurs, investors and deal makers, will provide access to attractive business combination opportunities and position us to succeed in consummating an initial business combination.”

The similarities with the Hipgnosis strategy aren’t hard to spot. Hipgnosis launched on the London Stock Exchange in 2018 raising over £200m ($265m) via share issues, which set the acquisitive business on its way.

In the early weeks of 2021 alone, Hipgnosis has snapped up Shakira’s entire catalog, Fleetwood Mac frontman Lindsey Buckingham’s works and 50 per cent of Neil Young’s catalog.

Jacobson spent close to two decades at Interscope-Geffen-A&M, where he signed or worked closely with the likes of with Avicii, Black Eyed Peas, LMFAO and others.

He stepped away from UMG to launch Hallwood Media in 2019, a producer company that works with Jeff Bhasker, Emile Haynie, Brendan O’Brien and others.

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