Early history
GoDigital Media Group was founded by CEO and Chairman Jason Peterson in 2006. [4] It started out focused on licensing music rights, before expanding into other areas. [5] In 2008, it created a movie distribution subsidiary called GoDigital. [6] Two years later, it created supply chain software company, ContentBridge. [5] The video business expanded in January 2012, when it acquired video-on-demand business Might Entertainment, adding 700 movie titles to its licensing catalogue. [7] One of GDMG's early projects was for the song Despacito, which led to referrals from other indie artists publishing content on YouTube. [8]
In 2012, the company's music distribution business was renamed Cinq Music. [8] Over time, Cinq also became a music label, creator, and rights management firm. [9] That year, venture capital firm Preferred Ventures purchased a majority interest in the GoDigital subsidiary, for an undisclosed amount. [10] Preferred Ventures then merged GoDigital with Variance Films in January 2014, forming a movie distribution business called Amplify. [11] In 2015, the GoDigital subsidiary acquired independent film-maker Distribber. [12] In 2016, GDMG's AdShare subsidiary acquired Primo Media, a network of YouTube channels for Latin music that also markets music talent to YouTube content creators. [13]
In 2017, GDMG created Latido Music as an ad-supported Latin music TV channel. [14] Initially, GDMG's business was heavily focused on Latin music. [8] By 2018, it had 50 million listeners monthly, most of whom were from Latin American countries. [8] In 2017, it invested $20 million into its Cinq subsidiary to expand to other genres. [15] Its first major non-Latin project was in 2018, when the Cinq subsidiary recorded and distributed an album for Janet Jackson. [8] It also purchased Warner Music Group's music rights in songs from rapper T.I., using half of $20 million in funding provided by the parent company GDMG. At the time, it was GDMG's largest acquisition. [16] GDMG invested another $40 million into Cinq to acquire additional licensing rights in 2019. [17] That investment was subsequently used to purchased the Beluga Heights Record Label including the right to songs by Sean Kingston and Jason Derulo. [16] Latido Music acquired competing latin music business Mitú in February 2020, [18] which was later merged with NGL Collective. [19]
Recent history
During the COVID-19 pandemic, GoDigital Media Group shut down its headquarters in Los Angeles, California and transitioned to a remote workforce. It acquired eight businesses from 2020 - 2023. [5] In 2021, GoDigital partnered with MEP Capital Management to purchase YogaWorks, in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction, for $9.6 million. [20] YogaWorks had closed its physical Yoga studios due to the COVID-19 pandemic. GDMG converted it into an online subscription service. [5] In 2023, YogaWorks introduced a fitness program intended for users with breast cancer in partnerships with celebrity Samantha Harris. [21] GDMG also acquired Sound Royalties, which provides advances to artists in exchange for royalties in their music. [22]
In 2022, GDMG invested another $100 million into its Cinq Music subsidiary. [23] That same year, it acquired retailers Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) and Bob's Stores from U.K.-based Frasers Group for $70 million. [5] EMS and Bob's Stores had physical stores, whereas GDMG had historically focused on IP rights management, content, and services. [24] Under its new owner, Eastern Mountain Sports made a series of ads making fun of its prior financial troubles and bankruptcy. [25] In June 2023, GoDigital said it would be bidding on acquiring Vice, which was in bankruptcy. [5] However, Vice selected a competing bid from Fortress Investment Group and was ultimately sold to that company. [26]
