Riot Games and BMG announced this week that they have extended their “global publishing administration deal” and expanded it with a new strategic partnership.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
This expanded partnership between Riot and BMG will focus on “signing and servicing songwriters to frontline publishing deals with BMG,” and leverage “creative opportunities across Riot’s products and music initiatives,” according to a release.
Riot Games first partnered with BMG in 2020, and during that time the companies worked together on a number of projects that tied BMG artists with top Riot properties. Earlier this year, Riot Games and BMG co-hosted the first BMG SoundLab with more than 30 songwriters collaborating to create music around Riot’s pipeline of upcoming projects—in addition to League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and Valorant, Riot is working on a fighting game and an MMO, along with entertainment properties such as Arcane.
BMG currently serves as Riot’s official music publisher and has a catalog of nearly 1,000 custom music titles related to League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and Valorant. Those titles include OST for Arcane, esports anthems and virtual artists including HEARTSTEEL, K/DA, Pentakill, and True Damage, among others.
Riot said in the release that its owned music catalog recently surpassed 10B streams and received Recording Industry of America Association (RIAA) certification: gold-certification for League of Legends, The Glitch Mob, and Mako “Rise” (feat. The Word Alive) and League Of Legends & Against The Current “Legends Never Die.” It also received platinum-certification for K/DA’s hit single “POP/STARS” (feat. Jaira Burns). “GODS” by NewJeans and HEARTSTEEL’s debut single “PARANOIA,” which recently cracked Spotify’s Global Top 50.
