The independent music publisher SONGS is going up for sale, with the majors like Warner, Sony and Universal likely keeping their eyes peeled.

SONGS music publishing are responsible for some of the world’s biggest artists like Diplo, The Weeknd, and Lorde to name but a few. That’s why it’s major news to hear that they’re going onto the market with help from LionTree Advisors for bids of over $160 million.

Sources say that last year SONGS made $8 million in gross profit. The company’s value would normally be roughly 12 times their net publisher share (gross profit) but rising value has pushed it to around 15 times the company’s profits in the latest year. SONGS are feeling confident predicting a massive jump to $12 million in gross profits this year, hence why they aren’t giving themselves up cheap.

SONGS haven’t given an exact target of what they want in an offer but the quoted £160 million stands as a minimum, and they seem to be expecting much higher. With their impressive roster of high-profile artists the major labels will no doubt have a keen eye on proceedings and it will be interesting to see which, if any, make the first move on SONGS.

Rumours are suggesting that SONGS have decided to put themselves up for sale to test the waters after receiving an upfront buyout offer. With this in mind they may not even accept any others, on the other hand Universal might end up chucking 300 million their way and they end up rethinking their future. We shall have to see.