The Toronto-born artist is in talks with New York-based private equity firm Lyric Capital to raise US$750 million in debt and US$250 million in equity from multiple investors, Bloomberg reported. The pop star behind “Starboy” could potentially use his music publishing rights and his share of the master recordings as collateral for the financing. (Bloomberg)

Talking point: Investors have poured billions of dollars into some of the world’s largest musicians—including Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa and Bob Dylan—often by acquiring rights to their catalogues. While The Weeknd’s prospective financing doesn’t appear to include an asset sale, it would be one of the biggest in the industry to date, eclipsing the estimated US$600 million Sony Group paid Michael Jackson’s estate last year for half of his music catalogue. Chord Music Partners already owns rights to some of The Weeknd’s music publishing (50 per cent, sources told Bloomberg). One source said the artist sought to sell a stake in some of his music rights two years ago for US$1.3 billion.