Irv Gotti Talks Selling His Masters for $300 Million
Written by SOURCE on December 8, 2022
Irv Gotti has some flattering words for Cash Money Records.
While speaking on the Earn Your Leisure podcast, the Murder Inc. co-founder boldly declared the Cash Money “the best label ever.” He made the claim when discussing the potential value of music catalogs, claiming Cash Money could probably rack in a whopping 10 figures if it ever decided to sell its masters.
“Birdman the best that ever did it?” co-host Rashad Bilal asked, referring to the Cash Money co-founder.
“Yeah. As far as labels goes, there’s no disputing Cash Money is the greatest label ever. Think about it,” he said, before rapping lyrics from Juvenile’s 1998 hit “Ha.” “That shit was out over, what, 25 years ago? Them n****s been hot. They been hot all this time.”
Gotti went on to highlight some of Cash Money’s greatest artists, including Nicki Minaj and Drake.
“They’re the best label ever. No one’s even close to Cash Money, I don’t think.” he continued. “No one’s close to them. And if they ever wanted to sell, Baby and [co-founder Ronald ‘Slim’ Williams] could get a billi. Someone will give them a billion dollars.”
Gotti also touched on his decision to sell the Murder Inc. masters to Iconoclast, a brand and music rights managing company founded by Olivier Chastan. The $300 million deal, which was announced over the summer, saw Gotti sell his 50 percent ownership stake of the label’s masters, while receiving additional funding for future media projects, including TV shows and feature films.
The music mogul reflected on the deal in a lengthy Instagram message back in June.
Gotti told Earn Your Leisure he wanted to sell the masters to fund a movie project, and was eventually directed to Chastan. He said he immediately clicked with the Iconoclast CEO and secured the deal. Gotti then recalled meeting with PIMCO, an investment management firm that is partnered with Chastan. Gotti said at one point during the meeting, he was pressed about his decision to sell the Murder Inc. catalog.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m selling my past to ignite my future,” Gotti said. “I said, ‘I wanna pay for my own TV series, pay for my own films, so I can own it 100 percent, and build that catalog up just how I built my music catalog …”
You can check out the full interview above.
