QC sold to Scooter Braun group for $300M
- Thread starter BigSteve
- Start date
KnickstapeCity
The Big Dikk King
Wow!!! Does Scooter still manage artists? Also I wander how this will work for Duke Deuce and Vezzo due to scooter really working with huge pop acts not indie street rappers
Ol’Otis
The Picasso of the Ghetto
Little hat personnel
Marlo Barksdale
Really out chea
I figured because QC has been on a huge slump since My Turn.
- Lil Baby's album was supposed to be his Vol. 2 breakout album with all the promo but it slick flopped closer to 2 Legit 2 Quit
- Migos broke up and the duo album wasn't making any noise before the Takeoff tragedy.
- City Girls 2nd album leaked and completely flopped. Does JT even rap anymore lol?
- Duke Deuce tries but can't catch a hit. Doesn't help that Offset is who he's signed thru to QC
- None of the female acts caught on (Lakeyah, Layton Greene
- They signed Gloss Up but dropped her album out the blue last week with no promo in the worst time to drop a album
- Bankroll Freddie couldn't catch a hit and then got locked up
- Icewear Vezzo too old and Baby Money hasn't stood out yet
End of an era
Duke Deuce is like Maxo Kream. Id say 75% of their bookings are to hipster / majority white populated venues. Not sure how to explain it properly… the type of concert goers thatd go see a Ghostface Killah concert, does that make sense?
Vezzo does more hip hop venues so not sure how scooter will manage him
How the fukk is that whole label only being sold for 300 Ms? Somebody lying
Somebody lied about this album. The numbers said it was the biggest album of the year last year, but nothing on it was anything close to a substantial hit.
Icewear and Freddie were actually making the best music of their career prior to this sale. Didn't know Freddie got locked up, they had something there. I really liked the Migos duo album but yeah it's a shame what happened
FluffyEyes
Mrs. Boss Lady
They sold to a Korean company.
Quality Control, Atlanta Rap Powerhouse, Sells to Scooter Braun’s Hybe
The acquisition is the famed music manager’s first major move at Hybe America — a division of the South Korean firm — since he became its sole chief executive last month.
By Ben Sisario
Feb. 8, 2023
Quality Control Music, the Atlanta rap label that is one of the hottest hit machines in contemporary music, has been acquired by Hybe America, a company led by the executive and talent manager Scooter Braun, in one of the most closely watched deals in the music business.
The acquisition is the first major step taken by Braun — who manages pop stars like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato — since he became the sole chief executive of Hybe America last month. The company is a division of the South Korean entertainment firm Hybe, which dominates the K-pop world through its management of the superstar group BTS.
The transaction was announced late Wednesday by Hybe America and QC Media Holdings, the label’s parent entity. The purchase price was not disclosed, but is estimated at around $300 million.
“QC is one of the most significant independent labels in the world,” Braun said in a statement to The New York Times. “They not only distribute music, but they also distribute culture. Their artists are the voices of their communities.”
The deal takes off the table one of the most coveted independent labels in music and expands the global repertoire of Hybe, which has only recently begun to look beyond the boundaries of K-pop.
Since its founding in 2013, by Pierre Thomas (known as P) and Kevin Lee (Coach K), Quality Control has been behind the rise of rap acts like Migos, Lil Baby and Lil Yachty. Early on, the label mastered the promotion of music through streaming, adapting the fire-hose-of-content strategy that had long flourished in the world of semiofficial mixtapes.
By early 2017, the label had scored a global smash with “Bad and Boujee,” featuring the idiosyncratic, stuttering flow of the trio Migos, with a guest appearance by the rapper Lil Uzi Vert. The song spent three weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Lil Baby alone has garnered 37 billion streams of his catalog, according to Quality Control.
Rap Trio Migos Cracks the Code to a No. 1 Hit, One Drop at a Time
Thomas and Lee will remain at the helm of the label, under the direction of Braun, they said.
Braun became a power player in artist management after discovering a young Bieber on YouTube. In 2019, he came under the cross hairs of Taylor Swift fans when his entertainment company, Ithaca Holdings, bought her former label, Big Machine — including the rights to her first six studio albums — for more than $300 million, without Swift’s participation. Ithaca later sold Swift’s albums to another investor.
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In 2021, Braun joined Hybe after that company purchased Ithaca — which included Braun’s management deals, music publishing assets and the remainder of Big Machine — for just over $1 billion.
“We want to take our brand worldwide and need partners with mind-sets like ours — ground up, self-made and building companies from nothing,” Thomas, Quality Control’s chief executive, said in a statement. “All of Hybe’s leaders are entrepreneurs with track records for finding, growing and amplifying their talent globally.”
One question hanging over the deal is the future value of Migos, one of Quality Control’s biggest acts. One member, Takeoff, was killed in a shooting in November. A second, Offset, is suing Quality Control over ownership of his solo recordings. The third, Quavo, is managed by SB Projects, Braun’s company, which is part of Hybe America.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hybe’s deal for Quality Control is the latest in a string of transactions in which big music companies have scooped up smaller labels known for their close relationships with artists.
In 2021, Warner Music Group paid $400 million for 300 Entertainment, which has released music by Megan Thee Stallion and Young Thug. That year, Sony Music also purchased a controlling stake in Alamo Records, whose acts include Lil Durk and Rod Wave; the value of that transaction was not disclosed, but is estimated at close to $200 million.
Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. @sisario
www.nytimes.com
Quality Control, Atlanta Rap Powerhouse, Sells to Scooter Braun’s Hybe
The acquisition is the famed music manager’s first major move at Hybe America — a division of the South Korean firm — since he became its sole chief executive last month.
By Ben Sisario
Feb. 8, 2023
Quality Control Music, the Atlanta rap label that is one of the hottest hit machines in contemporary music, has been acquired by Hybe America, a company led by the executive and talent manager Scooter Braun, in one of the most closely watched deals in the music business.
The acquisition is the first major step taken by Braun — who manages pop stars like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato — since he became the sole chief executive of Hybe America last month. The company is a division of the South Korean entertainment firm Hybe, which dominates the K-pop world through its management of the superstar group BTS.
The transaction was announced late Wednesday by Hybe America and QC Media Holdings, the label’s parent entity. The purchase price was not disclosed, but is estimated at around $300 million.
“QC is one of the most significant independent labels in the world,” Braun said in a statement to The New York Times. “They not only distribute music, but they also distribute culture. Their artists are the voices of their communities.”
The deal takes off the table one of the most coveted independent labels in music and expands the global repertoire of Hybe, which has only recently begun to look beyond the boundaries of K-pop.
Since its founding in 2013, by Pierre Thomas (known as P) and Kevin Lee (Coach K), Quality Control has been behind the rise of rap acts like Migos, Lil Baby and Lil Yachty. Early on, the label mastered the promotion of music through streaming, adapting the fire-hose-of-content strategy that had long flourished in the world of semiofficial mixtapes.
By early 2017, the label had scored a global smash with “Bad and Boujee,” featuring the idiosyncratic, stuttering flow of the trio Migos, with a guest appearance by the rapper Lil Uzi Vert. The song spent three weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Lil Baby alone has garnered 37 billion streams of his catalog, according to Quality Control.
Rap Trio Migos Cracks the Code to a No. 1 Hit, One Drop at a Time
Thomas and Lee will remain at the helm of the label, under the direction of Braun, they said.
Braun became a power player in artist management after discovering a young Bieber on YouTube. In 2019, he came under the cross hairs of Taylor Swift fans when his entertainment company, Ithaca Holdings, bought her former label, Big Machine — including the rights to her first six studio albums — for more than $300 million, without Swift’s participation. Ithaca later sold Swift’s albums to another investor.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2021, Braun joined Hybe after that company purchased Ithaca — which included Braun’s management deals, music publishing assets and the remainder of Big Machine — for just over $1 billion.
“We want to take our brand worldwide and need partners with mind-sets like ours — ground up, self-made and building companies from nothing,” Thomas, Quality Control’s chief executive, said in a statement. “All of Hybe’s leaders are entrepreneurs with track records for finding, growing and amplifying their talent globally.”
One question hanging over the deal is the future value of Migos, one of Quality Control’s biggest acts. One member, Takeoff, was killed in a shooting in November. A second, Offset, is suing Quality Control over ownership of his solo recordings. The third, Quavo, is managed by SB Projects, Braun’s company, which is part of Hybe America.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hybe’s deal for Quality Control is the latest in a string of transactions in which big music companies have scooped up smaller labels known for their close relationships with artists.
In 2021, Warner Music Group paid $400 million for 300 Entertainment, which has released music by Megan Thee Stallion and Young Thug. That year, Sony Music also purchased a controlling stake in Alamo Records, whose acts include Lil Durk and Rod Wave; the value of that transaction was not disclosed, but is estimated at close to $200 million.
Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. @sisario
Quality Control, Atlanta Rap Powerhouse, Sells to Scooter Braun’s Hybe
The acquisition is the famed music manager’s first major move at Hybe America — a division of the South Korean firm — since he became its sole chief executive last month.
FluffyEyes
Mrs. Boss Lady
Very good overall analysis. I was surprised that they even signed Gloss Up seeing as all the other female artists on the label have been left for dead.
Scottie Drippin
Should Never Mention Me
HYBE is the umbrella company of Big Hit Records.
BTS just bought the Migos
(not even joking, HYBE only exists because BTS made billions, Big Hit was a tiny label)
No wonder Offset left QC.
BTS just bought the Migos
(not even joking, HYBE only exists because BTS made billions, Big Hit was a tiny label)No wonder Offset left QC.