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Seeker Music, the songwriter-led music rights, publishing and record company, is closing out 2024 by celebrating the successes and #1 songs added to, and created out of, its catalog of more than 14,000 classic copyrights. The year’s success is highlighted by the record-smashing “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey, which interpolates the Seeker catalog cut “Tipsy” by J-Kwon. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is not only the year’s biggest song, but is also now officially the longest-running #1 song ever to top the Billboard charts, at 19 weeks.
When Seeker, founded by M&G Investments, and led by hit songwriter Evan Bogart (Rihanna’s “SOS,” Beyonce’s “Halo”), acquired the copyright of J-Kwon’s "Tipsy" as part of a broader deal with the UK’s Notting Hill Music in 2022, it was because Bogart, and Seeker, saw untapped potential for creative “second life,” a tenant that’s at the core of the company’s strategy when looking to acquire catalogs. For Seeker to acquire a body of work, the team has to truly love the music, and have a full strategy in place to unlock the creative potential for new IP, exposure, and collaboration. “Tipsy,” and now “A Bar Song,” are prime proof of concept.
Other deals and acquisitions from this year highlight that unique strategy, and the strength of having a creative team at the core of the company, too. Two years after Seeker acquired Christopher Cross’ full catalog and brought it to record streaming highs, Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary on HBO (and the accompanying interest in the genre) is proving Seeker’s instincts for recognizing music with true staying power and relevance. Seeker’s acquisition of Cross collaborator Michael Omartian’s own publishing and producer catalog - which includes #1 hits across three consecutive decades, from “Sailing” to Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money” - which was announced just last week, also demonstrates Seeker’s commitment to these hits.
Seeker’s acquisitions and partnerships this year also represented their expanding focus on #1 catalogs with global reach. They partnered with multiplatinum British singer and songwriter Mark Morrison on a rights acquisition, and have executed creative campaigns pegged to his catalog and his timeless number one smash hit “Return of the Mack” - one of the most recognizable songs of all time and, likely, the only song in history to accomplish the feat of being featured in both McDonald’s and Burger King commercials. Seeker recently acquired the publishing catalog of the platinum-selling UK act The Wombats, and, in the spring, partnered with MITH Media to expand their footprint throughout Latin America and US Latin-music markets. Through that deal, they also signed the #1 hit songwriter K. Sotomayor (Sofia Reyes, Maria Becerra) to their publishing roster.
And, to help foster even more #1 hits and grow audiences for its catalog, Seeker created and launched its innovative Samplémoose platform, which delivers a collection of loops, beats, & flip-starts that Seeker’s creative team curates (and identifies as easy-clear to aid in licensing), and gives producers and musicians the direct tools to reimagine classic tracks and flip them into fresh hits. In addition to Shaboozey’s success, Seeker’s catalog, and Samplémoose, have already been behind several other noteworthy flips these last few years, such as Pop Smoke’s #1 “What You Know Bout Love” (flip of Ginuwine’s “Differences”), Coco Jones’ “Double Back (SWV’s “Rain”), Teyana Taylor’s “Freak” and Megan The Stallion & Sza’s “Freaky Girls” (both based on Adina Howard’s "Freak Like Me”), PARTNEXTDOOR’s “Up In Here (DMX’s “Party Up”), Chris Brown’s “Freak” (Nelly’s “Air Force Ones”), and many others.
In April, multi-platinum, GRAMMY-nominated producer and songwriter Marcos “Kosine” Palacios (Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda,” Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake,” Big Sean’s “DANCE (A$$), etc) teamed up with Seeker to become their first ever Samplémoose Ambassador, specifically working on transforming Seeker’s catalog into future chart-toppers, in a partnership that also included Seeker acquiring his publishing catalog.
Throughout all of 2024, Seeker also grew its frontline roster with multiple record releases from artists such as Fourth Daughter, Carr, Dead Pony, and Caroline Kingsbury on the company’s in-house record label imprint, music is fun. With notable achievements from their publishing roster including Charlie Brand winning the ARIA for Best Song Of The Year for co-writing, and producing, G-Flip’s “Worst Person Alive”, and releases from Brand (Caroline Kingsbury EP), Kito (“Take Your Vibes and Go”) and Sofia Valdés (self-titled debut), to name a few, Seeker continued its passion for mentorship of the new generation of hit songwriters. And through critically acclaimed releases such as the Soweto Gospel Choir, Latroit, and Groove Terminator’s Zulu-language dance chronology History of House, and Martyn Stewart and ONR’s nature-music album Imperfect Cadence, music is fun continued to champion some of the most artistically significant records of the year.
Congratulations to Seeker Music on a milestone 2024, and watch this space for more to come in 2025!
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