Jonas Brothers Sell Portion of Music Catalog to Dad’s Company: ‘I Don’t Know That Anybody Can Love Your Music More’

When musicians decide to sell their catalogs, they often find themselves forced to choose between the highest bidder and the best custodian of their works. In the case of Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas, who reunited as the Jonas Brothers in 2018, they chose family.

The brothers have sold their publishing and recording rights from their three most recent albums — 2019’s Happiness Begins, which includes Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Sucker”; 2023’s The Album; and the upcoming Greetings From Your Hometown, set for release in August — as well as rights to the holiday hit “Like It’s Christmas” and the Tokyo Olympic Games anthem “Remember This,” to the investment arm of dad Kevin Jonas, Sr.‘s Jonas Group Entertainment Holdings, Kevin Sr. tells Billboard. Financial details were not disclosed.

A former indie singer-songwriter who put his career in Christian music on hold around the time his sons began performing on Broadway and in commercials, Kevin Sr. co-managed the Jonas Brothers with Phil McIntyre in their early days. He tells Billboard he won the bidding war for his sons’ catalog by pledging to care for their songs the way an artist manager would.

“I don’t know that anybody can love your music any more than I do or be any more proud of you,” Kevin Sr. says he told his sons. “I am not asking for less than the purchase price but for consideration of the passion I’ll bring to keeping your legacy thriving.”

Speaking by phone while on vacation with family, including his sons and grandchildren, Kevin Sr. says his company — which includes Jonas Group Publishing, Red Van Records and the talent management arm Jonas Group Entertainment — is exploring re-releasing some of the music and building a dedicated sync team. “Of course, collaboration with [my sons] is going to be easy,” he says.

Since leaving Disney’s Hollywood Records and buying back their master recordings, merchandise and publishing rights in 2012, the sibling trio has had significant control over their music and business empire. In a statement, the group said that selling their rights to the company founded by their dad “feels like coming full circle.”

“We are passionate about songwriting and the creative process, and Leslie DiPiero [Jonas Group Publishing president] has always been a true champion for songwriters and creators,” the Jonas Brothers said in a statement. “We look forward to working with her and the team.” 

The familial and financial structure of the deal makes it unique: Kevin Sr. purchased the assets with capital from a $300 million debt package backed by Corrum Capital, Bardin Hill, Cliffwater and One William Street. Over the past roughly 18 months, Jonas Group Entertainment Holdings has also acquired the catalogs of “Issues” singer-songwriter Julia Michaels, country star Rhett Akins, and songwriters and producers Justin Ebach and Amy Stroup.

The Jonas brothers, who kick off a North American tour in August in honor of 20 years as a group, have a co-founded several food and beverage businesses, including Backstage Popcorn, Ohza canned cocktails and Villa One tequila. They are also involved in Ember temperature-controlled mugs, OLIPOP functional sodas and Nellie’s Southern Kitchen, on which they partnered with dad Kevin Sr.

Access Media Advisory and its founder, Teresa Miles Walsh, served as financial advisors on the deal, and Corrum Capital’s Jonathan Mandle contributed to structuring Jonas Catalog Holdings 1, the investment entity that acquired the Jonas Brothers catalog.