David Kershenbaum (left) and HarbourView Equity Partners founder Sherrese Clarke. Photo Credit: HarbourView
The music IP acquisitions aren’t finished yet: HarbourView has announced a deal covering David Kershenbaum’s “interest in producer royalties and master recordings,” including stakes in tracks popularized by Tracy Chapman and Joe Jackson.
HarbourView reached out with word of its latest investment (but not the financial and precise ownership details thereof) today. Keeping the focus on what we do know, the longtime exec Kershenbaum produced Chapman’s eponymous debut album (1988) as well as the following year’s Crossroads and later 2000’s Telling Stories.
Also part of the portfolio (and presumably the HarbourView transaction) are production credits on albums from Peter Frampton (1981’s Breaking All the Rules), Joe Jackson (including but not limited to 1982’s Night and Day), Supertramp (1985’s Brother Where You Bound), Cat Stevens (including the 1977 comeback effort Izitso), and Kenny Loggins (1991’s Leap of Faith), to name some.
Additionally, Kershenbaum remixed multiple Duran Duran tracks from 1982’s Rio and produced former Journey and Santana vocalist Gregg Rolie’s Gringo (1987) solo album.
In a statement, HarbourView founder and head Sherrese Clarke touted the selling producer’s career and north of “75 international awards and Grammys nominations.”
“His body of work spans a wide range of artists and recordings that have reached audiences across genres,” Clarke continued. “We’re excited to welcome David to the HarbourView family and to steward this catalog and the creative work it represents.”
And in remarks of his own, the Raiding the Rock Vault co-creator Kershenbaum applauded HarbourView’s sharing his “appreciation for great songs and the creators behind them.”
As for how the investment fits into the bigger song-rights picture, with plenty of earmarked capital still waiting to be deployed, smaller-scale deals appear poised to keep on trickling in for the foreseeable future.
(That said, with the catalog arena having been largely quiet on the public-announcements front before the HarbourView-Kershenbaum agreement’s disclosure, the timing here isn’t set in stone.)
Evidently, notwithstanding the many commercially prominent professionals who’ve cashed in on song rights, other blockbuster plays are in the cards as well.
To date, 2026 has delivered transactions involving the IP of Miranda Lambert, Iron Maiden, and Anthem Entertainment itself – with Garth Brooks among those who are reportedly in talks to sell.