Key Points
- Reservoir Media acquired the catalogs of Nacional Records and publisher Canciones Nacionales.
- Financial terms were not disclosed.
- The deal includes a joint venture to sign Latin artists and songwriters.
- Nacional's catalog holds more than 100 Grammy and Latin Grammy wins and nominations.
Reservoir Media has acquired the recorded music catalog of Los Angeles independent label Nacional Records and the publishing catalog of its sister company, Canciones Nacionales. The Nasdaq-listed music company announced the deal on July 16 and did not disclose financial terms.
The transaction is not only a catalog purchase. Reservoir and Nacional are also forming a joint venture to sign and develop new recording artists and songwriters — meaning Reservoir buys the back catalog and, through the joint venture, keeps signing new Latin artists and songwriters alongside Nacional rather than absorbing the label and retiring it.
What Reservoir bought
Nacional Records was founded in 2005 by Tomas Cookman and has spent two decades as one of the most visible independent homes for Latin alternative music. Its roster and catalog include Ana Tijoux, Bomba Estéreo, Nortec Collective, Aterciopelados, El Mató a un Policía Motorizado, Tom Tom Club, DJ Bitman, La Vida Bohème, Jungle Fire, YADAM and Cheo, along with releases from Manu Chao, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Jarabe de Palo and Los Amigos Invisibles. Music associated with the catalog has drawn more than 100 Grammy and Latin Grammy wins and nominations.
"I have long been a fan of what Golnar and Rell have built at Reservoir," Cookman said, referring to founder and CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi and president and COO Rell Lafargue. "I feel we share the same work ethic and, equally as important, a love of music and the industry that supports it."
"Over the last two decades, Nacional has cemented itself as one of the most influential independent music companies in the Latin market," Lafargue said, as Music Business Worldwide reported.
Why Latin catalog, and why now
Latin music generated more than $1 billion in U.S. wholesale revenue in 2025, a scale that has pulled catalog buyers toward a genre they largely ignored during the first wave of rights acquisitions. For Reservoir the move follows a joint venture with TU Publishing struck in June 2026 and its 2023 acquisition of hitmaker Rudy Perez's catalog.
It also lands in a market that has reopened. Uristocrat reported in 2026 that catalog buying has rebounded with valuation multiples back at 12–18x, after the rate-driven freeze that slowed deals in 2023 and 2024. Recent transactions have tested how far the asset class stretches: Iron Maiden members sold Pophouse 50% of their catalog and their likeness rights, bundling image alongside songs, while Sony Music Publishing acquired Recognition Music Group's 45,000-song catalog at the opposite end of the size range. Around the same time, CVC Capital Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in DistroKid, adding artist-distribution infrastructure to the same wave of music-rights consolidation.
The Nacional deal is smaller than either, and the undisclosed price makes it impossible to place on that multiple curve. What distinguishes it is the structure: a catalog buy attached to a forward-looking joint venture in a genre whose U.S. revenue is still growing.
Others covering this
Billboard — "Reservoir Acquires Catalogs of Latin Indie Label Nacional Records, Publisher Canciones Nacionales"
"Reservoir Media has acquired independent label Nacional Records and the publishing assets of its sister company, Canciones Nacionales, Billboard can exclusively announce Thursday (July 16)."
Music Ally — "Reservoir expands Latin-music business with Nacional Records deal"
"Reservoir Media is the latest music company eyeing growth in Latin music through partnerships and acquisitions. In this case the latter: it is buying independent label Nacional Records…" The consolidation continued when Primary Wave closed its acquisition of Kobalt to form a $7 billion music company.
Source: Music Business Worldwide.
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