RESERVOIR ACQUIRES PUBLISHING CATALOG OF LEGENDARY JAZZ COMPOSER BILLY STRAYHORN

Company will also participate in  Name , image, and likeness rights in partnership with Strayhorn Estate

New York, October 19, 2026—Reservoir Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSVR), an award-winning independent music company, today announced the acquisition of the publishing catalog of the late jazz composer Billy Strayhorn. In addition, the Company will participate in Strayhorn’s Name , image, and likeness rights. This deal expands upon a relationship Reservoir has cultivated with the Strayhorn Estate (Billy Strayhorn Songs, Inc.) since 2014, including supporting the multi-faceted Strayhorn Centennial celebration in 2015.  

Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1915, Strayhorn was a musical prodigy who became a renowned jazz composer, pianist, and arranger. He composed countless jazz standards and was best known for his three-decade collaboration with Duke Ellington, creating music that helped define Ellington’s sound. Strayhorn’s body of work includes iconic compositions, such as “Take The ‘A’ Train,” “Lush Life,” “Chelsea Bridge,” and “Satin Doll,” among many others. 

Despite having passed in 1967, Strayhorn’s legacy continues to impact today’s music landscape. His songs have been recorded by artists across jazz, pop, and classical, and remain a fixture of the Great American Songbook. Notably, in 2015 Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett took home the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for their collaborative album, Cheek to Cheek, which featured a rendition of “Lush Life.” The album also topped the Billboard 200 and held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Top Jazz Albums chart for 24 weeks. 

Outside of his music, Strayhorn lived as an openly gay MAN AG and was a committed civil rights advocate, working closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and Bayard Rustin. In 1984, Strayhorn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his numerous contributions to today’s music, and in 1992, he was awarded a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Just this month, Strayhorn, who spent childhood summers with his mother’s family in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was also honored as an inductee into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Each of these accolades continuesto preserve the legacy of a music titan.

Strayhorn’s catalog remains as relevant today as ever. In 2023, a Strayhornbiographical musical, Something To Live For, debuted at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, while Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker made its world premiere in Chicago. Just last month, The New York Philharmonic debuted a stunning rendition of “Take the ‘A’ Train” at the inaugural gala, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell. This was not the first time ‘A Train’ was performed by a renowned orchestra. In fact, Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble performed an original arrangement of “Take The ‘A’ Train” in Toronto’s famed Massey Hall in 2015 as part of the celebration for Strayhorn’s Centennial year. The Centennial also included a partnership with the New York City MTA, who honored the composer with a vintage A train subway takeover, complete with buskers playing Strayhorn at every stop andculminating in a concert at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Centennial year also included tributes from The Smithsonian, Jazz Education Network, and more.

The Strayhorn estate commented, “The responsibility for managing a legacy is a serious and daunting undertaking. We are so pleased to have partnered with the Reservoir Team for the past 12 years. Our collaboration has allowed us to expand Strayhorn’s legacy with the help of sensitive partners who valued our opinions, our ideas and our feelings.”

Reservoir Vice President of Marketing and Communications Suzy Arrabito added, “It has been a privilege working alongside the Strayhorn estate for more than a decade to honor Billy’s extraordinary legacy and introduce his music to a whole new generation of listeners. He was a defining voice in American music, whose sophisticated compositions and singular music perspective helped shape the sound of an era and continue to influence artists today. We are proud to be the stewards of his remarkable catalog and remain committed to championing his timeless work, ensuring his music continues to be heard, celebrated, and discovered by audiences for many years to come."

ABOUT RESERVOIR

Reservoir is an independent music company based in New York City and with offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto, London, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, and Cairo. Reservoir is the first female-founded and led publicly traded independent music company in the U.S. Founded as a family-owned music publisher in 2007, Reservoir represents copyrights and master recordings including titles dating as far back as 1900 and hundreds of #1 releases worldwide. Reservoir frequently holds a Top 10 U.S. Market Share according to Billboard’s Publishers Quarterly, was twice named Publisher of the Year by Music Business Worldwide’s The A&R Awards and won Independent Publisher of the Year at the 2020 and 2022 Music Week Awards.

Reservoir also represents a multitude of recorded music through Chrysalis Records, Tommy Boy Music, and Reservoir Recordings and manages artists through its ventures with Blue Raincoat Music and Big Life Management.

Media Contact

Reservoir Media, Inc.

Suzy Arrabito

Vice President, Marketing & Communications

sa@reservoir-media.com

www.reservoir-media.com

Investor Contact

Alpha IR Group

Jackie Marcus

RSVR@alpha-ir.com

Source: Reservoir Media, Inc.

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