How Morgan Wallen & Fetty Wap Songwriter Yung Lan Sold His Publishing Rights for Millions

Yung Lan, a songwriter/producer who has worked with chart-topping artists including Morgan Wallen, Roddy Ricch and Youngboy Never Broke Again, has sold a portion of his publishing rights to GoldState Music in a mid-seven-figure agreement. So how did the young hitmaker (born Milan Modi) land such a rich deal so early in his trajectory?

“Despite his relatively young career, he has built up and managed a catalog of successful work across genres,” Yonas Aregai, chief of staff at GoldState, tells Billboard. “The appeal was the quality of music.”

GoldState, which was launched by Charles Goldstuck three years ago, and in April secured $500 million in financing to grow its music portfolio, says it acquired Lan’s publishing rights to songs including Wallen’s “Cowgirls,” a 2023 single with Ernest that hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart; Fetty Wap’s “RGF Island”; and “Bacc Seat” by Roddy Ricch featuring Ty Dolla $ign, off Ricch’s Billboard 200 chart-topping debut album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial.

Outside of the Lan acquisition, GoldState owns rights to notable tracks including Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights,” Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” and Panic! At The Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” — all included in catalogs it acquired from Catchpoint Partners and AMR Songs. But the firm also targets deals like the one with Lan that fit within “a sweet spot,” Aregai says: active music creators selling off a portion of their recent repertoire. He adds that creators who sell rights to their older songs during a fruitful career period can earn a something of a premium for their works because “when that artist has a new hit, we know from streaming behavior their back catalog benefits.”

There is evidence of that for “Cowgirls” and another Wallen track that Lan co-wrote, 2023’s “Good Girl Gone Missin,’” both of which experienced a pickup in streaming in March and April ahead of the release of Wallen’s fourth studio album, I’m the Problem, in May, according to data from Luminate.

For Lan, who emerged from humble roots as a teenage Kanye West fan in rural Virginia, it took observing professional friends and collaborators selling their publishing rights to do it himself.

“I just preferred to do that instead of the long wait,” Lan tells Billboard, referring to the publishing royalty payments that “fluctuate each year” and often take more than a year to receive. “I would rather hold on to my masters. I’m at the peak of my career, and I’m not slowing down anytime soon.”

Preparation for the deal began a year in advance and involved getting an independent evaluation, says Ruchir Mohan of 1916 Enterprises, who helped broker the agreement alongside lawyer Ben Cline.

Lan — an active investor in Atlanta real estate, private lending and French bulldogs who also has his own studio, Defiant Studios, and production group, Milan Production Group — had kept close track of his publishing rights and the dates when they would revert to him. When those dates approached, his team proactively contacted lawyers to reclaim those rights, Ruchir says.

“The kind of work he and his team did up front before going to the marketplace, that adds to a catalog’s price point,” says Aregai.

After an introduction was made by Goldstate’s lawyer at Fox Rothschild, Mohan, Lan and Goldstate were able to reach an agreement in six months, says Aregai, adding it is one of the “easiest deals” he’s ever done.

Lan is happy with the outcome and is looking to relocate his Defiant Studios — which is currently located in Richmond, Va. — to Atlanta or Nashville.

“At this point in my career, I’m interested in developing new talent, developing [Milan Production Group] and a lot more No. 1 records. That’s for sure,” Lan says.