Our History
On July 28, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), we consummated the previously announced business combination (the “Business Combination”) by and among Roth CH Acquisition II Co., a Delaware corporation (“ROCC”), Roth CH II Merger Sub Corp., a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of ROCC (“Merger Sub”) and Reservoir Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“RHI”). On the Closing Date, Merger Sub merged with and into RHI, with RHI surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ROCC (the “Business Combination”). In connection with the consummation of the Business Combination, “Roth CH Acquisition II Co.” was renamed “Reservoir Media, Inc.” effective as of the Closing Date. Our common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the “Common Stock”) and warrants to purchase one share of Common Stock, each at an exercise price of $11.50 per share (the “Warrants”), are traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“NASDAQ”) under the ticker symbols “RSVR” and “RSVRW,” respectively.
Established in 2007, we have grown through acquisitions. We made a firm commitment in the early days to be an active music company, one that owns and administers rights, and we looked to build our business based on long-term ownership of rights. Our portfolio on the publishing side is 87% owned for life of copyright, as well as 96% owned versus administered.
In 2010, we acquired TVT Music Publishing, home to some of the most important rap, hip-hop and pop music of the 1990s and 2000s. Replete with hit songs, the catalog set the stage and strategy for the kinds of catalogs we sought next. At the time, the advent of streaming forced a shift in the manner in which people were consuming music. It was no longer about the album, but a playlist of favorite songs. This confirmed our investment thesis that investing in hit songs had to be a key driver of our acquisition strategy. Following the acquisition of TVT Music Publishing, we acquired Philly Groove Records, which brought in our first recorded music assets and additional publishing hits, including the Delfonics’ “Ready or Not” which has been covered by artists ranging from The Fugees to Missy Elliot.
In 2012, we acquired the 30,000 copyright-strong Reverb Music and its roster of active songwriters. This catalog further diversified our holdings into the United Kingdom, and added film and television music, such as the theme for the “Got Talent” franchise. We also acquired the FS Media collection of catalogs in 2014, thereby adding what is considered to be the best of American music with the catalogs of Sheryl Crow, John Denver, Billy Strayhorn, Evanescence and Creed to the repertoire. This acquisition included evergreen hits, such as “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and extended our portfolio back to the 1930s with titles by legendary jazz musician Duke Ellington such as “Take The A Train.”
In 2015, the opportunity arose for us to invest in the royalty streams of Hans Zimmer’s portfolio of film scores dating back to 1989’s “Driving Miss Daisy” and including greats such as “The Lion King,” “Gladiator,” the “Dark Knight” franchise, and others. This enabled us to be in business with one of the most prolific contemporary composers and also to complement our music catalog with music for film. Since then we have built up our film score business through other acquisitions such as Shapiro Bernstein in 2020, which included rights to “Lawrence of Arabia” and others classic films, or Hearts Bluff in 2020, which included rights to “Clueless.” Most recently in 2022, we invested in the royalty streams of Henry Jackman’s portfolio of film scores, which included films from the “Captain America,” “Jumanji” and “Kingsman” franchises. In 2020, we created a frontline film production music investment initiative with the Atlantic Screen Group.
Our acquisitions have added such luminaries as the Commodores, the Isley Brothers, Bob Crewe, Alabama, Travis Tritt, and many others. In 2020 we acquired the Hearts Bluff collection of catalogs, which brought iconic titles to our company from the likes of Elvis, Kool & the Gang, Garth Brooks and Roy Orbison. Also in 2020, we acquired the catalog of historic American music publisher Shapiro Bernstein, thereby adding titles from the turn of the century to our portfolio.
In the recorded music segment, during 2019, we acquired London-based Blue Raincoat Music Ltd and Chrysalis Records Ltd. This acquisition added significant recorded music operations to our business, and added the sound recordings of Sinead O’Connor, The Specials, Generation X, The Waterboys, and Go West. In addition, on June 2, 2021, we entered into a membership interest purchase agreement to acquire U.S. based record label and music publishing company Tommy Boy Music, LLC (“Tommy Boy”), which helped launch the careers of Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa, Digital Underground, Coolio, De La Soul, House of Pain and Naughty By Nature.