Deal sheet
- Type
- Publishing
- Parties
- Reservoir Media, Inc.
- Rights covered
- Music publishing catalogue (musical compositions and songwriter share). Does not cover the master recordings of the Lion King film and stage soundtracks, which sit with Walt Disney Records / Disney Music Group as the films' producer, not with Lebo M or Reservoir.
- Territory
- Worldwide
- Announced
- 2024-12-03
- Primary document
- Official newsroom
- Sources
- Reservoir Media official press release · Music Business Worldwide, FY2025 earnings coverage (confirms Publishing-segment classification) · Reservoir Media FY2025 Form 10-K, SEC EDGAR (Music Publishing vs Recorded Music segment definitions) · Music In Africa report
Read this before citing: Neither Reservoir nor Lebo M has disclosed a price, an exact list of compositions covered, or whether the deal is a full assignment of copyright or a long-term administration agreement. Reservoir's public language ('acquired rights to the catalog') is consistent with either. No source names a separate publishing entity on Lebo M's side; he appears to have contracted as an individual songwriter.
CORRECTION, 21 September 2026: the headline previously said Reservoir "Bought" the publishing. Reservoir's own announcement says it "acquired rights to the catalog", which is consistent with either a full assignment or a long term administration agreement. Headline narrowed to the source's wording.
Reservoir Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: RSVR) announced on 3 December 2024 that it had acquired rights to the catalogue of South African composer, arranger and performer Lebohang Morake, known professionally as Lebo M, whose work spans The Lion King franchise, the 2010 FIFA World Cup ceremonies and multiple Hollywood film scores. Reservoir’s own framing of the deal in its fiscal 2025 results, reported independently by Music Business Worldwide, places it in the company’s Music Publishing segment, the composition and songwriting side of the business, distinguishing it from a Recorded Music catalogue deal Reservoir struck the same year for producer Jack Douglas. No purchase price was disclosed in any source checked; Reservoir’s FY2025 10-K discloses only an aggregate figure of more than $115 million spent on acquisitions and advances across the full fiscal year, not broken out by deal.
Correction
Corrected 21 September 2026. The previous headline said Reservoir Media “Bought” the publishing, which asserts an outright purchase of copyright. Reservoir’s own announcement, the cited source, says it “acquired rights to the catalog”, wording that is equally consistent with a full assignment of copyright or with a long term administration agreement. Neither Reservoir nor Lebo M has disclosed which, as this record’s caveat already noted. The headline has been narrowed to the source’s own formulation. Owning a catalogue and administering it are different legal relationships and this desk should not have chosen between them for the reader.
