It turns out Jay-Z has more than one partnership on his mind these days.
The possibly engaged hip-hop mogul is close to inking a 10-year, $150 million deal with concert promoter Live Nation that would encompass all of his myriad music and business endeavors, according to the New York Times.
The proposed arrangement would give the longtime Def Jam artist an unprecedented amount of control over recording, music publishing and distribution, licensing, touring and marketing, as well as provide a home for his various non-music-related enterprises, such as his chain of sports bars.
Insiders say Live Nation would fork over an upfront payment of $25 million, $10 million for each of three albums, $25 million for concert fees, $50 million in other advance payments and operational costs, $20 million for publishing and license rights and a $25 million fund to go toward underwriting Jay-Z's business ventures.
Jay-Z would split the profits of this new venture, to be called Roc Nation, down the middle with Live Nation.
With the inclusion of the 38-year-old kazillionaire's entrepreneurial efforts, this deal is even more comprehensive than the pioneering $120 million contract the concert behemoth hammered out with Madonna last year, prompting the Material Girl to leave Warner Music Group, the company she'd been recording for since her "Like a Virgin" days.
Live Nation also signed U2 just last month, part of the growing trend of companies getting their hands into all aspects of the music industry, rather than just limiting themselves to one part, such as concert promotion or—in this day and digital age—the increasingly less profitable art of album-making.
“Everyone’s trying to figure it out. I want to be on the front lines in that fight," Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, told the NY Times.
Just as Madonna was still obliged to make another album for Warner Bros. and sign off on another greatest-hits compilation, the Hard Knock Life rapper owes Def Jam Records one more studio album, which he says he hopes to finish by the end of this year, before he's free to contribute to Live Nation's burgeoning recording business.
In the meantime, Live Nation is overseeing his current 28-date tour with Mary J. Blige, which kicked off March 22.
Then, it will be time to consolidate the Jay-Z brand under one roof.
"Something must be happening. Madonna did it, she’s not slow," the rapper said. "Jay-Z, he’s not slow either."