The Financial Potential of MIMs – Music Enterprise Analysis

The Financial Potential of MIMs – Music Enterprise Analysis


Within the earlier 4 components (half 1, half 2, half 3 and half 4) of the sequence on music funding marketplaces, we analysed many alternative enterprise fashions, together with people who have failed. On this fifth and last a part of the weblog sequence, we’ll summarise the findings from components 1-4 and assess the financial potential of the person fashions. Particularly, we’ll consult with the completely different copyright frameworks in america in comparison with different nations, particularly in Europe, to reply the query of what’s wanted to create a well-functioning and clear music funding market.

Music Funding Marketplaces – Half 5: The Financial Potential of MIMs

Completely different Enterprise Fashions of MIMs

Music funding marketplaces purpose to monetise music rights for buyers and create a market for them. Nonetheless, evaluation of music funding marketplaces exhibits that there are at the moment many alternative fashions vying for the favour of buyers. Usually, MIMs goal small buyers and music followers who should purchase shares in music rights for a number of {Dollars} or Euros. There are additionally choices corresponding to Royalty Alternate, sliceNote and JKBX, that are aimed extra at rich buyers or excessive web price people who can afford to speculate bigger quantities per share. Generally, nonetheless, buyers can’t purchase music rights instantly, however solely participation rights in royalty streams. Resulting from copyright legal guidelines in a lot of the European nations, it isn’t potential to buy music rights. Rights can solely be licensed to be used. Because of this, European marketplaces solely supply oblique methods for consumers to generate income from music rights. Completely different methods are used. The Austrian MIM World Rockstar presents “alternatives” through a crowdfunding platform to small buyers who can purchase participation rights within the income streams of artists. As World Rockstar additionally operates a label and a music publishing firm, artists can both license their rights on to World Rockstar or supply them on the market instantly on the platform within the type of participation rights. In each instances, buyers don’t obtain any rights to the underlying publishing and grasp rights.

Different platforms additionally supply rights to royalty streams, marketed beneath names corresponding to “SongShares” from the French firm Bolero or “Preliminary Music Choices” (IMOs) from the Swedish MasterExchange. The US-based JKBX additionally doesn’t promote shares in music rights or songs instantly, however participatory rights within the type of “Royalty Shares”. Solely the US platforms slice Be aware and Royalty Alternate supply shares in music rights for direct buy, primarily to rich buyers keen to pay US $10,000 per share.

Shares are offered both at costs set upfront by the platforms or the rights house owners, or via auctions, as within the case of SongVest, Musicow and ANote Music. Musicow and ANote Music enable bought shares to be resold on secondary buying and selling platforms after the preliminary buy, though the administration charge per transaction is often larger on the secondary market. The European MIMs Tangy Market and Bolero observe an analogous mannequin, however and not using a prior public sale. Resale platforms are additionally deliberate for World Rockstar and JKBX. Nonetheless, JKBX explicitly states that the Royalty Shares can solely be traded on the corporate’s personal secondary gross sales platform and never on an exterior inventory trade.

Some platforms try to unravel the repurchase of music rights shares via tokenisation, promoting the participation rights within the type of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain. Swedish platforms MasterExchange and Anotherblock and Turkish platform Parça promote music rights NFTs on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains respectively. The Austrian platform World Rockstar additionally permits the acquisition of NFTs along with the traditional analogue sale of “alternatives”.

The Situations for a Functioning Music Funding Market

The completely different fashions present that it’s tough to make music rights a tradable commodity that may be purchased and offered by small buyers. Particularly outdoors the US, copyright legal guidelines make it tough to make music rights tradable as monetary merchandise. As well as, many artists don’t management their publishing and mastering rights and may solely “promote” their earnings streams from accumulating societies within the type of participation rights. It’s simpler for music publishers and labels to monetise their music catalogues on MIMs, as the instance of JKBX exhibits.

The US subsequently has a bonus over the EU due to its copyright framework. It’s not solely the likelihood to promote copyright and associated rights that makes the US a thriving music rights market, but in addition the opportunity of reversion rights, that are primarily utilized by superstars to regain management over their music catalogues. Nonetheless, the excessive fragmentation of rights within the EU can be an impediment to the event of a well-functioning music rights market. If, as within the US, it’s potential to amass not solely the publishing and grasp rights of an artist, but in addition the NIL (identify, picture and likeness) rights, then this bundle of rights has a better financial worth. Then again, transaction prices improve when completely different rights are distributed amongst completely different actors. If, furthermore, music rights can’t be offered however solely licensed to be used, as is the case within the EU, then, because the music funding marketplaces present, difficult workarounds corresponding to rights to royalty streams have for use. Finally, nonetheless, it’s a political determination whether or not the authorized framework ought to encourage the creation of music markets on the expense of the authorized safety of creators.

For music funding marketplaces to work effectively, they want additionally helpful music catalogues that generate a daily income stream. That’s why MIMs work higher in markets the place such music catalogues are extra available – such because the US, South Korea (because of Okay-Pop) and Sweden (because of many internationally profitable songwriters) – than in markets the place these situations aren’t met. The failure of Estonia’s Fanvestory is an efficient instance of how a supplier wants the backing of a robust market to function its enterprise mannequin in a sustainable means. This enterprise mannequin is based on taking administration charges, which vary from 1 to eight per cent per transaction for the varied suppliers. Nonetheless, it is sensible to have a second monetary mainstay, corresponding to World Rockstar, which can be a music writer and label. One other necessary success issue is that the MIMs have adequate liquidity, i.e. investor capital. An absence of liquidity has proved deadly for Fanvestory, Vezt and Royal.io, which have already ceased buying and selling attributable to a scarcity of investor capital.

That is additionally attributable to the truth that returns don’t at all times meet expectations. An evaluation of the returns on Royalty Alternate and JKBX exhibits that the values are extremely depending on {the catalogue} and the efficiency of particular person songs, which can be extremely risky over time. As well as, most platforms supply comparatively few funding alternatives, often effectively beneath 100. Solely Royalty Alternate and Musicow have greater than thousand funding alternatives on their webpages. World Rockstar, Tangy Market, SongVest, Bolero and JKBX are in the course of the vary with not less than 100 alternatives.

Mainly, it’s a dangerous funding that’s not advisable for small buyers with out prior information of how the music rights enterprise works. Because of this, South Korea’s Monetary Companies Fee took motion to research Musicow’s enterprise mannequin extra intently and solely gave the corporate the inexperienced mild to proceed working after the Korean platform improved investor safety.

Then again, music funding marketplaces enable artists to monetise their music rights and followers to speculate, not less than not directly, of their favorite music. Both means, there may be potential for the creation of an progressive market for music rights, though there must be regulatory safety for each the rights holders who supply their royalty shares on the market and the small-scale buyers who purchase monetary merchandise backed by music rights.

The Second Wave of MIM Begin-ups, since 2021 – Music Enterprise Analysis

The Second Wave of MIM Begin-ups, since 2021 – Music Enterprise Analysis


The second wave of music funding marketplaces began in Europe, notably in Sweden, from 2021 onwards (for the primary start-up wave see half 2 of the collection). With Tangy Market, Grasp Trade and Anotherblock three new gamers entered the Swedish market between 2021 and 2023. The wave of latest firms continued with Bolero (2021) in France, Sonomo (2023) within the Netherlands, OG Music (2023) in Italy and Parca (2023) in Istanbul, Turkey. Within the US, three new music funding marketplaces have been launched in the identical interval: Band Royalty in 2021 and sliceNote in addition to JKBX in 2023. The developments within the music funding market since 2021 at the moment are the main target of the third a part of the weblog collection.

Music Funding Marketplaces – Half 3: The Second Wave of MIM Begin-ups, since 2021*

MIMs from Sweden: Tangy Market, MasterExchange, Anotherblock

Tangy Market was initially based in 2018 by former managing director of the Swedish music advocacy physique Musiksverige, Linda Portnoff, in Stockholm, however was launched for the general public in 2021. Within the meantime, Tangy Market in partnership with the Swedish accumulating society STIM to course of royalty funds, developed the cell app for the buying-and-selling-platform and purchased preliminary music property.[1] Tangy Market is a typical fractional royalty platform. Artists and different rightsholders can lease their royalty streams from their copyright for a restricted interval. Nonetheless, the rightsholders hold 100 per cent of the copyrights, as a result of they solely promote participation rights of their royalty revenues.[2] Tangy Market targets small traders and music followers, who can obtain the cell app, create a private account and deposit cash for funding. Buyers can then purchase and promote royalty shares of their favorite artists and take part within the royalty payouts. Apart from native Swedish music catalogues, Tangy Market additionally gives songs lined by celebrity artists resembling “Totally different Form of Love Tune” by Cher, “She Don’t Just like the Lights” by Justin Bieber and “Work B**ch!” by Britney Spears.[3]

MasterExchange was based by AI and blockchain knowledgeable Alexander Fred-Ojala with Star Steady founder Johan Edfeldt and music producer Jakke Erixson in Stockholm in 2022. MasterExchange is a music funding platform to purchase and promote shares in music royalty income streams. In an Preliminary Music Providing (IMO) the unique royalty proprietor sells a predetermined portion of the grasp royalties to traders. A royalty share is the distinctive tradable asset on the MasterExchange platform, representing a stake in a tune’s future grasp royalties. Like different fractional royalty platform, the traders don’t management the underlying copyright however personal a participation proper within the royalty income stream. In contrast to ANote Music or Tangy Market, the MasterExchange’s royalty share is related to an NFT on the Polygon blockchain. Nonetheless, MasterExchange conducts transactions in Euros reasonably than in cryptocurrency.[4] In August 2023, MasterExchange raised US $2.7 million in funding from a number of traders together with Vectr Fintech and launched the primary preliminary music providing of the tune “Sofia” by Alvaro Soler, launched in July 2016, which has generated over 2 billion music streams throughout numerous platforms, particularly in Italy and in Spain.[5]

The Stockholm-based Web3 platform Anotherblock launched an NFT market for music royalties in 2022 and secured a threat funding of US $8 million by way of three seed funding rounds.[6] Music rightsholders can supply shares of their royalty income streams on Anotherblock’s platform.[7] One instance was the Swedish songwriter and producer Alex Karlsson, who wrote songs for Ok-Pop acts resembling BTS, NCT, TXT and Twice, and provided the BTS hit “We Are Bulletproof: The Everlasting” on Anotherblock’s web site. Buyers should buy a 0.004 per cent share of a royalty NFT for 0.023 Ether, which truly equates to US $63.[8] The royalty NFTs are tradeable and will be bought on the secondary market on the Anotherblock platform.

Paris, Amsterdam, Milan and Istanbul: Bolero, Sonomo, OG Music, Parça

Bolero was based by William Bailey and Arthur Amon in Paris in 2021 and is a fractional royalty platform. The enterprise mannequin is similar to that of ANote Music. Buyers should buy and promote so-called “Tune Shares” in single songs or tune catalogues. A Tune Share is a digital asset that entitles to get a share of the correct to obtain proportional royalties from publishing and grasp rights of a particular tune or tune catalogue. Rights holders can switch their revenue streams from the accumulating societies to Bolero for a predefined interval however retain the underlying rights. Subsequently, the traders don’t management the underlying copyright however purchase a participation proper within the income stream generated by licensing of the tune/tune catalogue to music customers resembling music streaming companies, radio and TV stations. Bolero additionally gives a secondary market platform, the place the traders can commerce their acquired Tune Shares.[9]

Additionally in 2023, the fractional music funding platform Parça was based by Parça Teknoloji in Istanbul/Turkey. The enterprise idea is just like that of many music funding marketplaces already described. Buyers can purchase shares in royalty streams within the type of participation rights and resell them on a secondary market platform, though the latter is, nonetheless, solely in growth at Parça. For every profitable transaction, Parça costs a 5 per cent fee payment, no matter whether or not it’s an preliminary sale or a sale on the secondary buying and selling platform. Parça is the place traders can put their cash, primarily for Turkish repertoire. There are at present 69 songs on the market on the homepage, with lots of them by the identical artists.[13]

Again within the USA: Band Royalty and sliceNote

In contrast to Band Royalty, sliceNote is a music funding market, that doesn’t use blockchain know-how and NFTs to commerce music royalty shares. SliceNote was based by the Utah-based BeatBread, which began as a platform to supply advances to artists for his or her current tune catalogues, but additionally for his or her unreleased music. In return, BeatBread receives a share within the artists’ royalty funds, over a interval decided by the artist. BeatBread was based in 2020 by Peter Sinclair and was in a position to elevate US $34 million in a primary funding spherical in February 2022 and closed one other US $100 million fund with Variant Investments in November 2022. In April 2023, BeatBread launched the music funding platform sliceNote, which gives certified traders (excessive web value people, file labels, music publishers and so forth.) the likelihood to put money into fractional shares as small as 1 per cent per deal.[16] Thus, sliceNote just isn’t a typical fractional royalty platform resembling SongVest and Musicow, however a music rights gross sales platform extra corresponding to Royalty Trade.

Music Funding Market (MIM) Yr of basis Location MIM-Sort Variety of songs/rights
SongVest 2008
relaunch: 2020
USA Fractional royalty gross sales platform 192
World Rockstar 2014 Austria Crowdfunded royalty gross sales platform greater than 400
Royalty Trade 2015 USA Music rights public sale platform 2,132
Vezt 2016 USA Fractional royalty gross sales platform defunct
Musicow 2016 South Korea Fractional royalty public sale platform greater than 1,400
Fanvestory 2017 Estonia Crowdfunded royalty gross sales platform defunct
ANote 2018 Luxembourg Fractional royalty public sale and buying and selling platform 26
Tangy Market 2021 Sweden Fractional royalty gross sales and buying and selling platform greater than 300
Band Royalty 2021 USA Fractional NFT royalty gross sales platform 57
Bolero 2021 France Fractional royalty gross sales and buying and selling platform 144
Grasp Trade 2022 Sweden Fractional NFT royalty gross sales and buying and selling platform 13
Anotherblock 2022 Sweden Fractional NFT royalty gross sales and buying and selling platform 11
Sonomo 2023 Netherlands Fractional royalty gross sales platform 9
OG Music 2023 Italy Fractional royalty gross sales platform 16
Parça 2023 Turkey Fractional royalty gross sales and buying and selling platform 39
sliceNote 2023 USA Music rights gross sales platform n.a.
JKBX 2023 USA Fractional royalty gross sales platform 97

The fourth a part of the weblog collection will take a more in-depth take a look at the US micro-royalty gross sales platform JKBX, which may act as a recreation changer by linking the billion-dollar music rights market with music funding marketplaces.


Endnotes

[1] Tangy Market, “About Us”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-19.

[2] Tangy Market, “For Creators”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-19.

[3] Tangy Market, “Funding Calculator”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-19.

[4] MasterExchange, “How It Works”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-19.

[5] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “After elevating $2.7m, music royalties market MasterExchange sells out its first ‘preliminary music providing’”, August 17, 2023, accessed: 2025-03-19.

[6] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Web3 music startup anotherblock raises $4.3m in newest funding spherical”, Could 17, 2023, accessed: 2025-03-19.

[7] Anotherblock, “The trusted bridge to music rights investments”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-19.

[8] Anotherblock, “‘We Are Bulletproof: The Everlasting’ by Alex Karlsson”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-19.

[9] Bolero, “Incessantly Requested Questions”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-19.

[10] Fintech Finance Information, “Sonomo Hits the Proper Notice With Weavr’s Help”, November 22, 2022, accessed: 2025-03-24.

[11] Sonomo, “How It Works”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-24.

[12] OG Music, “FAQ”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-24.

[13] Parça, “How It Works”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-24.

[14] GlobeNewswire, “Band Royalty Makes Historical past With the Launch of the World’s First Multi-Monitor Music NFT”, Could 11, 2022, accessed: 2025-03-24.

[15] Band Royalty, “FAQs”, n.d., accessed: 2025-03-24.

[16] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “BeatBread brings fractional investing to the unbiased artist funding scene”, April 12, 2023, accessed: 2025-03-24.

* This weblog publish is predicated on the report IP Finance within the Music Trade, which was commissioned by the World Mental Property Rights Group (WIPO).

Love Youngsters of Well-known Classical Music Composers Revealed

Love Youngsters of Well-known Classical Music Composers Revealed


The historical past of classical music is filled with the tales of composers who’ve had energetic love lives. Many ended up having kids out of wedlock, and lots of others have been suspected of getting kids exterior of wedlock.

Mel Bonis (1858-1937)

Mélanie Bonis, 1908

Mélanie “Mel” Bonis was born in 1858 in Paris to a strict, lower-middle-class Catholic household. Even if she was a prodigiously gifted musician, her household discouraged her musical research.

Nevertheless, in 1874, when she was sixteen, they lastly relented and allowed her to check on the Paris Conservatoire.

Whereas there, she met a poet named Amédée Landély Hettich, and fell in love with him. However when her dad and mom came upon, she was pressured to go away the Conservatoire – and Hettich – behind.

In 1883, her household pressured her into marrying Albert Domage, a businessman twice her age, who introduced 5 step-children into the connection. Along with mothering them, Bonis additionally had three organic kids of her personal.

Between the childcare obligations and the truth that her husband disliked music, she was pressured to step away from her artistic life.

Within the Nineties, she reconnected with Hettich, who inspired her to pursue her music once more. He and Bonis had an affair, and she or he grew to become pregnant. The newborn was a bit woman named Madeleine, born in 1899.

It was unthinkable for Bonis to lift her personal illegitimate baby, so she put her within the care of a former maid as a substitute. To deal with the breakdown of her marriage and the absence of her daughter, Bonis threw herself into composition. Lots of her best-known works date from this time.

Mel Bonis: Pensées d’automne, from 1894

In 1912, after Hettich’s spouse died, he acknowledged he was Madeleine’s father. Just a few years later, after Domage died, Bonis grew to become extra concerned in Madeleine’s life. She didn’t, nonetheless, reveal that she was her mom.

Drama struck after World Struggle I, when Bonis’s son Édouard fell in love with Madeleine, and Bonis was pressured to disclose that he had fallen in love along with his half-sister. The couple cut up, and Madeleine married one other man in 1923.

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Giacomo Puccini

In 1884, famous girls’ man Giacomo Puccini started educating piano to a younger married girl named Elvira Bonturi Gemignani, who was one among his spouse’s buddies. Puccini was twenty-six and Elvira was twenty-four.

Puccini and Elvira have been deeply attracted to at least one one other, they usually quickly launched into a bodily relationship.

When Elvira came upon she was pregnant, she and Puccini fled to Monzi in Lombardy, Italy, to keep away from scandal as finest they may. In 1886, Elvira gave delivery to Puccini’s child, whom they named Antonio.

Giacomo Puccini and Elvira Puccini

Not surprisingly, Elvira’s husband was livid on the twin betrayals of his pal and his spouse. Though divorce wasn’t authorized in Italy on the time, due to its Catholic tradition, the couple did half methods. Gemignani retained custody of their son however despatched their daughter away to stay with Elvira and Puccini.

On 25 February 1903, Puccini was in a automobile accident. Elvira and Antonio have been thrown out of the car, however Puccini was crushed by the automobile and practically killed. His restoration could be lengthy and tough.

In a weird coincidence, the next day, Elvira’s husband, an notorious womaniser himself, was killed by the hands of one among his lovers’ husbands.

Gemignani’s dying meant that Puccini and Elvira have been lastly free to marry, which they did on 3 January 1904. The wedding legitimised Antonio.

The finale of Madame Butterfly, premiered in February 1904

Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

Frederick Delius

Composer Frederick Delius was born to a British mercantile household in 1862. His father, Julius, spent years making an attempt to persuade him to hitch the household enterprise, however with no luck. Frederick was too obsessive about music.

We don’t know whether or not it was the unique thought of the daddy or the son, however in 1884, Frederick sailed to Florida to supervise an orange plantation. Whereas there, he targeted on finding out music…and paid much less and fewer consideration to the oranges.

He was particularly taken by the Black musical traditions he encountered whereas residing within the American South, being attentive to waiters pulling double-duty singing at eating places to staff singing folks songs on passing boats.

Throughout this time, it’s believed that Delius had a love affair with a Black girl often called Chloe and fathered a toddler together with her. Chloe’s exact id stays unsure to this present day.

Delius’s Florida Suite, 1887

Years later, after he was married, Delius returned to Florida to promote the plantation. Historians speculate that this will have been when he came upon he was a father, or maybe tried to determine contact with the mom and child.

Violinist Tasmin Little has performed analysis on the subject and believes that the lack of Delius’s baby coincides along with his maturation as a composer and influenced the melancholy, craving tone of a lot of his works. Decide for your self.

A Delius documentary starring Tasmin Little

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

Portrait of George Gershwin

Albert Schneider, a person who glided by the identify Alan C. Gershwin, maintained for many years that he was the love baby of George Gershwin…and regardless of flimsy proof, his certainty of the actual fact satisfied fairly lots of people!

That is how Schneider claimed all of it went down.

Gershwin taking part in his track Somebody to Watch Over Me, 1926

He was born in 1926, reportedly the product of a fling between Gershwin and a dancer named Mollie Charlkovitz, stage identify Molly Charleston.

The Gershwin household didn’t wish to acknowledge him, in order that they organized for the child to be raised by Mollie’s sister, Fannie Schneider, from Brooklyn.

Alan Gershwin

Schneider claimed to recollect taking part in piano along with his father, and being threatened by the Gershwins to by no means let the key slip.

It was an outrageous story on the face of it, however Schneider did boast a powerful likeness to Gershwin. He additionally composed songs and was dedicated to preserving the composer’s reminiscence.

The truth is, he made a whole profession out of the connection, touring the world to share his story, even lecturing on cruise ships about it.

Schneider sometimes threatened authorized motion in opposition to the Gershwin household in order that he may declare a part of the profitable Gershwin property, however he by no means truly pulled the set off to take action.

He additionally by no means took a DNA check to check his claims. The truth is, one blood check revealed that the boy he was raised with was his brother, not his cousin; he determined to sq. that specific circle by claiming Gershwin had fathered them each.

Schneider died in 2018 in New York.

Many composers had love kids. But it surely appears possible that one of the well-known love kids in classical music historical past wasn’t truly one in spite of everything!

For extra of the perfect in classical music, for our E-E-newsletter

The Securization of Music Rights – Music Enterprise Analysis

The Securization of Music Rights – Music Enterprise Analysis


Non-public fairness initiatives, wherein music catalogues are purchased up for hundreds of thousands, might simply be a transitional section in the direction of a brand new growth wherein music turns into a speculative commodity. The buzzword is securitisation. Which means that monetary giants are creating new monetary merchandise primarily based on music rights and the revenue streams they generate. In enterprise jargon, these are known as asset-backed securities (ABS), which gained their doubtful fame throughout the monetary and financial disaster that started in 2008. Nevertheless, on this case, it’s music rights somewhat than actual property loans which can be being securitised. This fifth and last a part of the weblog collection takes a more in-depth have a look at how this works and the benefits and downsides of this growth.

Comply with the Cash! Huge Capital within the Music Rights Market – Half 5: The Securization of Music Rights*

The Revival of the “Bowie Bonds”

A New Increase of Music Rights Securization

A long time later, Bowie’s avant-garde monetary experiment will be seen in a brand new mild because the time appears ripe for brand new monetary merchandise that package deal music rights for buyers. After Northleaf, KKR in February 2022 introduced the securitization of an unlimited music rights portfolio, acquired by its Chord Music three way partnership with Dundee Companions. KKR Credit score Advisors meant to promote greater than US $732 million of ABS supported by publishing and sound recording royalties from a list of 65,000 songs, together with hits from The Weeknd, Infantile Gambino, and Stevie Nicks.[4]

Nevertheless, a forerunner of this securitization increase was the US music accumulating society SESAC, which was purchased by Blackstone in 2017. In August 2019, SESAC bought US $560 million in bonds backed by licensing agreements and music royalty streams. In comparison with the later ABS offers, SESAC bought basic company bonds providing a yield of 5.25 per cent for a weighted common lifetime of 6.7 years. Kroll Bond Ranking assigned these bonds a ranking of BBB minus.[5] Three years later, in July 2022, SESAC once more issued company bonds price US $335 million to finance the acquisition of Audio Community, acquired by SESAC in 2021.[6] These bonds act like loans, however from a bunch of buyers as a substitute of elevating cash from a financial institution. The buyers anticipate the payback of their investments plus curiosity after an outlined interval, when the underlying asset has earned the required revenue.

These music rights ABS transactions, nonetheless, created new monetary merchandise, tradeable in a specialised market. This was the intention of Blackstone’s Hipgnosis Songs Capital fund, when it introduced the launch of a US $221.65 million securitization of 950 songs of its music catalogue, together with hit songs by Leonard Cohen, Justin Timberlake, and Nelly Furtado.[7]

Determine 1: The method of securitization of music rights catalogues, 2019-2025

Date of transaction Firm Sort of securitization Catalogue Transaction worth (in US$ m)
Aug 2019 Blackstone Group Company bonds SESAC licensing catalogue 560
Dec 2021 Northleaf Capital Companions ABS 52,729 music titles from the Spirit Music Group catalogue 303.8
Feb 2022 KKR ABS 65,000 songs acquired by Chord Music 732
Jul 2022 Blackstone Group Company bonds SESAC licensing catalogue 335
Aug 2022 Blackstone Group ABS 950 songs from the Hipgnosis Songs Capital fund 221.7
Dec 2022 Apollo Asset Administration ABS Greater than 1 million songs from the Harmony catalogue 1,800
Feb 2024 ATLAS SP Companions and Truist Securities ABS 5,000 songs from the Kobalt Music Publishing catalogue 266.5
Mar 2024 KKR ABS HarbourView music rights catalogue 500
Nov 2024 Blackstone Group ABS 45,000 songs catalogue from the Hipgnosis Songs Fund 1,470
Complete       6,189

In December 2022, Apollo Asset Administration’s Capital Resolution issued asset-backed securities price US $1.8 billion in cooperation with JP Morgan. Apollo’s ABS are backed by greater than 1 million copyrights from Harmony’s music catalogues, together with songs from Phil Collins, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Daft Punk, Miles Davis, Genesis, Think about Dragons, James Taylor, 9 Inch Nails, Pink Floyd, Cyndi Lauper, Little Richard, Otis Redding, R.E.M. and lots of different superstars.[8] In February 2024, it was introduced that ATLAS SP Companions, along with Truist Securities, had provided to promote US $266.5 million price of music ABS primarily based on roughly 5,000 songs from 66 songwriters from the Kobalt Music Publishing  catalogue.[9] A month later HarbourView efficiently satisfied the personal fairness agency KKR to challenge US $500 million in ABS backed by the royalty revenue from the exploitation of the acquired rights catalogue.[10] In November 2024, Blackstone accomplished a US $1.47 billion music rights ABS transaction, backed by the Hipgnosis Songs Fund 45,000-song portfolio, which Blackstone had acquired in July 2024 for US $1.58 billion. The proceeds from the so-called Lyra 24-2 ABS deal had been used primarily to repay debt and to finance future music catalogue acquisitions.[11]

A complete of US $6.2 billion of music-related bonds and asset-backed securities (ABS) has been issued since 2019 primarily by the big PE corporations, Apollo, Blackstone, KKR, and Northleaf. The securitization of music catalogues is each a monetization of music rights but additionally an exit technique for PE initiatives.

How the Securization Enterprise Works: Benefits & Disadvantages

In 2022, the pre-sale report for Hipgnosis Music Belongings (MUSIC 2022-1) by Kroll Bond Ranking Company (KBRA) highlighted how the ABS enterprise works. The MUSIC 2022-1 ABS had been issued by Hipgnosis Music Belongings 2022-1 L.P. with a price of US $221.65 million, collateralized by the royalty streams from the music publishing and grasp rights catalogue comprising 950 songs from charting songwriters and artists, together with Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furdato, and Leonard Cohen. This music catalogue was administered by the three music majors Common, Sony and Warner in addition to seven different music rights directors. The 950 songs catalogue was valued at US $341 million with a reduction fee of seven per cent. The bonds bear curiosity semi-annually and no repayments are scheduled earlier than the anticipated compensation date in Could 2027. The ranking company instructed a ranking of A- for the MUSIC 2022-1 bonds, suggesting a low danger profile.[12]

The pre-sales report additionally included an evaluation of the royalty construction of the music catalogue. Virtually two thirds of the entire annual income of US $13.4 million (earlier 12 months to Q1 2022) had been derived from licensing of publishing rights with one third from sound recording rights. Nevertheless, the income figures present that only some songs are worthwhile. For instance, ‘Hallelujah’, written by Leonard Cohen and carried out by himself and 9 different acts, generated by far the very best annual revenues accounting for 12.8 per cent or US $1.71 million.[13] General, the highest 10 songs accounted for nearly 40 per cent of all royalties. This extraordinarily uneven distribution of royalties can be seen among the many artists. The highest 10 artists within the catalogue account for 78 per cent of the entire revenue. An evaluation by age of songs revealed that outdated repertoire, outlined as songs launched 30 years in the past or extra, generated income of US $4.6 million per yr, or 35 per cent of complete income. An additional 34 per cent of gross sales had been generated by songs 10 to twenty years outdated, and an additional 8 per cent got here from songs that had been between 20 and 30 years outdated. General, songs that had been greater than 10 years outdated generated gross sales of US $10.2 million, which corresponds to a 77 per cent share of gross sales. Conversely, this meant that solely 23 per cent of annual catalogue income got here from repertoire lower than 10 years outdated.[14]

Nevertheless, in comparison with different ABS transactions, the focus of income from the highest 10 songs within the Hipgnosis MUSIC 2022-1 ABS is the very best at virtually 40 per cent. By comparability, the highest 10 songs from the 65,000-song Chord Music catalogue, on which the KKR ABS is predicated, generated 10.7 per cent of annual revenues, whereas the highest 10 songs from the 52,729-song Spirit Music catalogue, on which the Northleaf ABS is predicated, generated 15.9 per cent of complete annual revenues. This robust focus of revenue within the Hipgnosis ABS most likely led to the A- ranking by the KBRA, whereas the KKR and Northleaf ABS had been every rated A.[15]

The KBRA report highlights each, the benefits of the securitization of music rights catalogues in addition to the disadvantages. ABS transactions allow the monetisation of music catalogues, which thereby enhance in worth. Securitisation additionally creates new monetary merchandise that may be traded on a market which supplies music rights an financial worth that’s decided by provide and demand.

The KBRA report additionally reveals one other downside that the worth of the brand new monetary merchandise depends upon a couple of fashionable songs. Ought to these songs, for no matter motive, lose their reputation, the worth of the related music bonds will undergo. If, as well as, different leisure rights or different claims to future revenue (e.g. authorized proceedings received) are bundled with the music rights within the ABS, non-transparent monetary merchandise might come up that solely serve hypothesis. On this case, losses in different areas might even have a unfavorable impression on the worth of the music rights.

All elements of the collection “Comply with the Cash! Huge Capital within the Music Rights Market”

Half 1: A Quick Historical past

Half 2: The Funding Giants

Half 3: Shamrock Capital Advisors

Half 4: The Enterprise Mannequin of Non-public Fairness Corporations

Half 5: The Securization of Music Rights


Endnotes

[1] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “‘Bowie bonds’ are again: Northleaf makes use of Spirit Music Group belongings to lift $303.8m providing”, December 20, 2021, accessed: 2025-02-14.

[2] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Spirit Music Group acquires grasp recordings of Tim McGraw initially launched by Huge Machine”, September 9, 2020, accessed: 2025-02-14.

[3] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “The title’s bonds. Music bonds.”, October 19, 2021, accessed: 2025-02-14.

[4] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “KKR purchased a music catalog from Kobalt for $1.1bn. Now it’s turning it into bonds”, February 7, 2022, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[5] Reuters, “SESAC sells $560 million in bonds backed by music royalties”, August 2, 2019, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[6] Bloomberg, “Adele License Charges to Assist Fund $335 Million of Bonds”, July 1, 2022, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[7] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Music’s bond journey continues, as SESAC and Hipgnosis each launch nine-figure choices”, August 10, 2022, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[8] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Harmony costs $1.8bn bond providing backed by over 1m music copyrights”, December 8, 2022, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[9] Billboard, “Kobalt Elevating $267M From Safety Backed by Tune Catalog Together with YoungBoy & Extra”, March 19, 2024, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[10] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “HarbourView raises $500m in debt financing led by KKR”, March 13, 2024, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[11] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Blackstone’s Hipgnosis closes $1.47bn asset-backed securities transaction”, November 11, 2024, accessed: 2025-02-24.

[12] Kroll Bond Ranking Company, 2022, Hipgnosis Music Belongings 2022-1 L.P., ABS Pre-Gross sales Report, August 2, 2022.

[13] Ibid., p. 8.

[14] Ibid., p. 7.

[15] Ibid., p. 9.

* This weblog publish is predicated on the report IP Finance within the Music Business, which was commissioned by the World Mental Property Rights Group (WIPO).

The Funding Giants – Music Enterprise Analysis

The Funding Giants – Music Enterprise Analysis


Partially 1 of the collection, we traced the music rights gross sales increase since 2019. On this half, we are going to take a more in-depth take a look at the businesses that present the monetary assets to amass music rights catalogues. These are a number of the largest corporations within the worldwide monetary trade. They embody BlackRock, Blackstone, KKR, The Carlyle Group, Brookfield Asset Administration and Apollo World Administration. These corporations handle billions, and even trillions, of US {dollars} of belongings beneath administration (AUM) in investor capital. These are primarily personal fairness companies whose enterprise mannequin entails figuring out undervalued belongings, buying them through the use of a mixture of fairness and debt capital, after which promoting them at an elevated goal worth to generate returns for his or her buyers. Their income mannequin relies on varied charges they obtain for his or her administration companies. This second a part of the ‘Observe the Cash!’ collection presents an important of those monetary and funding giants.

Observe the Cash! Massive Capital within the Music Rights Market –   Half 2: The Funding Giants

BlackRock Inc. is the biggest monetary and funding conglomerate on this planet, with 19,800 workers in over 30 nations and managing US $10 trillion in belongings by the top of 2023.[1] It was based in March 1988 as Blackstone Monetary Administration by Larry Fink and different former managers of US funding financial institution First Boston, with monetary help from Blackstone, which initially held a 50 per cent stake.[2] In 1994, Blackstone bought its stake, and the corporate was renamed BlackRock Monetary Administration.[3] BlackRock went public in 1999, managing US $141 billion in belongings.[4]

BlackRock is concerned within the music IP market by means of two funding automobiles: BlackRock Various Traders (BAI) and Affect Media Companions, a three way partnership with Warner Music Group. BAI partnered with Main Wave in 2016 to speculate US $300 million in Main Wave’s IP Fund 1, buying shares of Smokey Robinson’s music catalogue.[5] BAI was shaped when BlackRock purchased Quellos Group’s fund-of-funds enterprise for US $1.7 billion in 2007. Hedge funds, like BAI, use high-risk methods to outperform market returns. Fund-of-funds diversify investments to scale back danger for conservative buyers, although they arrive with larger administration charges.[6] In 2022, Brookfield Asset Administration purchased out BAI, investing US $1.7 billion in Main Wave and buying US $700 million price of rights from Main Wave’s IP Fund 1 and a pair of.[7] Affect Media Companions, based by Lylette Pizarro in 2019, partnered with Warner Music Group in 2022 to create a music IP fund. BlackRock invested US $750 million within the firm to amass music catalogues from artists like Dangerous Bunny, Bruno Mars, and Enrique Iglesias.[8] In December 2024, HPS Funding Companions, with US $148 billion in belongings, grew to become a part of BlackRock. HPS invested US $1 billion in Iconic Artist Group, buying Rod Stewart’s music catalogue for US $100 million.[9] BlackRock, due to this fact, has direct investments within the music rights market with HPS Funding Companions and is not directly concerned with Affect Media Companions. However, BlackRock’s engagement within the music IRP market stays very restricted and seems to be solely a marginal a part of the group.

Blackstone Group

Blackstone is among the oldest personal fairness corporations, based in 1985 by former Lehman Brothers executives Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman in New York Metropolis. The title “Blackstone” comes from the founders’ names: “Schwarz” means black in German, and “Peter” (from “petros”) means rock or stone in Greek.[10] Initially, Blackstone’s enterprise mannequin was to purchase poorly run public corporations, delist them, enhance their worth, and promote them at a revenue. This mannequin is typical for personal fairness corporations, and Blackstone was a pioneer on this discipline. After a non-public fairness increase within the Nineteen Eighties, the marketplace for leveraged buyouts cooled within the Nineties however recovered within the early 2000s. Blackstone was a number one participant throughout this era, collaborating in vital acquisitions resembling Houghton Mifflin Firm[11] and music shopping for membership Columbia Home in 2002.[12]. In 2007, Blackstone acquired Hilton Resorts for US $26 billion[13] and went public shortly earlier than the subprime mortgage disaster.[14] Regardless of the disaster, Blackstone emerged comparatively unscathed and continued to be a key participant in personal fairness acquisitions within the 2010s and 2020s. Over time, Blackstone reworked from a pure personal fairness firm to another funding administration conglomerate. By 2023, it reported 4 enterprise segments: Actual Property, Non-public Fairness, Credit score & Insurance coverage, and Hedge Fund Options. The Actual Property section was the biggest, adopted by Credit score & Insurance coverage, Non-public Fairness, and Hedge Fund Options.[15] Blackstone’s principal income sources are administration and advisory charges, together with realized funding earnings.

Blackstone’s preliminary foray into the music rights market started with the acquisition of the non-profit US-collecting society, Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC), for a rumoured US $1 billion in January 2017.[16] This acquisition was made by Blackstone’s Core Fairness Companions (BCEP I), which manages US $4.76 billion in belongings. BCEP I is a long-term personal fairness fund with a concentrate on investments exceeding ten years.[17] In addition to SESAC, BCEP I has made sixteen different investments, together with the acquisition of Japanese actual property firm GE Capital in 2020[18] and the producer of promoting supplies, HH World, in 2019.[19] The restricted companions of BCEP I are primarily retirement and pension funds within the US, Canada and Finland.[20]

Hipgnosis Songs Capital and Hipgnosis Music Administration Ltd. are managed by Blackstone Tactical Alternatives Advisors (BTOA), which manages a number of funds, together with the Blackstone Tactical Alternatives Funds I-IV.[21] The Tactical Alternatives Fund I (Tac Opps I), which administers the Hipgnosis belongings, was launched in 2012 with US $5.6 billion to put money into personal funding alternatives outdoors of conventional personal fairness.[22] Tac Opps I has buyers as restricted companions, primarily retirement funds such because the New York State Retirement Fund and the Allegheny County Retirement System.[23] Different investments of Tac Opps I embody L’Occitane Worldwide, Sustana Fiber, and SUNZ Insurance coverage.[24]

Blackstone can be a 9 per cent shareholder of New Mountain Capital, which led a consortium to purchase the US accumulating society Broadcast Music Integrated (BMI) for a rumoured US $1.3 billion in November 2023.[25] New Mountain Capital focuses on small and mid-sized corporations in monetary hassle, utilizing a modest quantity of debt to restructure and later promote them.[26] New Mountain Capital manages US $29.1 billion in belongings from pooled funding automobiles with retirement and pension funds as restricted companions.[27]

Apollo World Administration

Apollo Advisors was based by 4 former executives of Drexel Burnham Lambert after its chapter in 1990, elevating US $400 million for a non-public fairness fund specialising in distressed securities.[28] In 1993, Apollo entered the actual property market with the Apollo Actual Property Funding Fund.[29] Between 1995 and 2001, Apollo established three extra personal fairness funds with a complete of US $8.8 billion in investor commitments.[30] Earlier than the 2008 monetary disaster, Apollo benefited from the personal fairness market increase, buying a number of corporations in multi-billion-dollar offers resembling Momentive Efficiency Supplies for US $3.8 billion and the Dutch mail and parcel service PostNL for US $1.9 billion in 2006 in addition to Noranda Aluminium for US $1.15 billion[31]. In 2007, Abu Dhabi Funding Authority purchased a 9 per cent stake in Apollo,[32] foreshadowing a deliberate IPO in 2008, which finally failed because of the worldwide monetary disaster. The IPO was postponed to 2011, when Apollo World Administration raised US $565.4 million on the New York Inventory Change.[33] This led to new investments in media and cultural industries, such because the acquisition of McGraw-Hill’s training unit[34] and the merger of Apollo’s Endemol tv studios with 21st Century Fox’s Shine Group to type Endemol Shine Group. [35] From the 2010s onwards, Apollo continued to amass corporations in multi-billion-dollar offers, together with Verizon Media Group with Yahoo![36] and insurance coverage big Athene.[37]

Apollo World Administration’s involvement within the music rights market, although modest in comparison with multi-billion-dollar offers, is important. In October 2021, Apollo offered US $1 billion to HarbourView Fairness Companions, based by Sherrese Clarke Soares, to amass grasp and publishing rights.[38] HarbourView has since spent at the least US $500 million on music rights, with its credit score line elevated to US $300 million in December 2023.[39] Apollo additionally partnered with Harmony Bicycle Music Group in 2022 to subject US $1.8 billion in asset-backed securities and supported Harmony’s unsuccessful bid for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund.[40] Most lately, Apollo co-invested US $700 million within the music catalogue of the British rock band Queen, which Sony Music bought for $1.27 billion in June 2024.[41]

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR)

KKR, based in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg Jr., Henry Kravis, and George Roberts, is a outstanding personal fairness agency identified for pioneering leveraged buyout offers. It gained fame with its US $31.3 billion takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1988, a deal detailed within the e book “Barbarians on the Gate.”[42] All through the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, KKR led the personal fairness market with vital acquisitions, together with Beatrice Firms, the proprietor of Samsonite, and the US $5.5 billion buyout of Safeway.[43]. Regardless of a slowdown within the early Nineties, KKR re-entered the market with a US $5 billion fund in 1996, resulting in additional buyouts like Amphenol Company[44] and Wincor Nixdorf.[45] Within the 2000s, KKR continued its success with main transactions resembling Toys “R” Us[46] and SunGard,[47] and its largest pre-crisis deal, the US $44.4 billion buyout of Texas-based electrical energy retailer TXU.[48] After the 2008 monetary disaster, KKR resumed its actions and expanded into actual property with the acquisition of Yorktown Heart in 2012, establishing a brand new enterprise section.[49]

Within the 2010s, KKR began to put money into the media and cultural industries. In 2019, KKR acquired three tv and movie manufacturing corporations in Germany[50] – Tele München Gruppe, Universum Movie GmbH and Wiedemann & Berg Movie Manufacturing – and a 43.54 per cent stake within the German media conglomerate Axel Springer AG for US $3.2 billion.[51] But additionally outdoors Germany, KKR was within the cultural industries and acquired one of many world’s largest e book publishers, Simon S. Schuster, for US $1.6 billion in 2023.[52]

KKR started its engagement within the music sector in 2009 with a three way partnership with Bertelsmann AG to create BMG Rights Administration, through which KKR invested EUR 250 million in return for a 51 per share.[53] Over time, BMG acquired quite a few music publishers and report labels. Nonetheless, KKR withdrew from the three way partnership in March 2013, and Bertelsmann AG acquired KKR’s stake for EUR 300 million.[54] In January 2021, KKR purchased a majority stake within the music catalogue of Ryan Tedder, the frontman of OneRepublic, for US $200 million. This deal included Tedder’s songs written for different artists after January 1, 2016, and the songs he has written and carried out for OneRepublic.[55] KKR made this funding by means of Chord Music Companions, a three way partnership with Dundee Companions, utilizing capital from KKR’s Dislocation Alternatives Fund. KKR’s Dislocation Alternatives Fund is a distressed debt fund,[56] based in 2019, with US $2.97 billion AUM. The Dislocation Alternatives Fund has 10 restricted companions[57] primarily foundations, charitable organizations and insurance coverage corporations. In October 2021, Chord Music Companions and the Dislocation Alternatives Fund purchased the KMR Music Royalties II portfolio from Swedish music writer Kobalt, which contained 62,000 music copyrights, for US $1.1 billion.[58] Shortly after, KKR partnered with BMG once more in March 2021 to collectively purchase music rights, with every get together committing US $500 million for acquisitions.[59] In February 2024, KKR bought its majority stake in Chord Music to Common Group, which holds now a 25.8 per cent stake and Dundee Companions proudly owning the remainder of 74.2 per cent.[60]

The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group is a worldwide funding firm managing belongings price US $426 billion.[61] Based by 5 companions in New York Metropolis, it initially centered on leveraged buyouts within the protection trade.[62] Regardless of the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Carlyle continued its buyout initiatives, buying corporations like Dex Media[63] and The Hertz Company.[64] The 2008 monetary disaster led Carlyle to diversify into credit score options and different asset administration. Notable acquisitions embody Italian clothes firm Dainese, cyber safety agency ManTech Worldwide, and a 50 per cent stake in US clothes model Supreme.[65] Carlyle went public in 2012, elevating US $671 million.[66]

In 2022, Carlyle’s World Credit score platform partnered with music trade consultants to ascertain Litmus Music, an funding automobile for music rights. The Credit score Alternatives Fund II (CCOF II), which has deployed US $2.2 billion in media and leisure corporations, offered US $500 million for the acquisition of Keith City’s recording catalogue in 2022 by means of Litmus.[67] The CCOF II was established in 2020 as a classic personal fairness debt fund with US $4.6 billion AUM. It invests within the films, music and leisure, software program, and monetary service sectors. The fund has 13 restricted companions, primarily insurance coverage corporations and retirement plans such because the Allstate Insurance coverage Firm from Illinois and the I.A.M. Nationwide Pension Fund from Washington D.C.[68] In 2023, the CCOF II and Litmus purchased compositions from Benny Blanco, who wrote hits for Rihanna, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Arianna Grande and Maroon 5[69] in addition to the grasp royalty earnings stream and publishing rights to Katy Perry’s albums launched between 2008 and 2020.[70] In 2024, Carlyle elevated the credit score facility for Litmus by US $400 million to amass Opus Music Group, which owns rights to music catalogues from Juice WRLD, Ozuna, Maluma, and Rauw Alejandro,[71] and to purchase a share of Randy Newman’s music publishing and recording catalogue.[72]

Brookfield Company and Oaktree Capital Administration

Brookfield Asset Administration, now generally known as Brookfield Company, is among the world’s largest different funding corporations, based mostly in Toronto, Canada. Based in 1899, it has advanced considerably through the years. Initially offering electrical energy and transport infrastructure in Brazil, it was later acquired by Edper Investments and renamed Brascan Ltd.[73] In 2005, it grew to become Brookfield Asset Administration Inc., specializing in Brazilian infrastructure initiatives.[74] By 2018, it had diversified into varied sectors, together with infrastructure, renewable vitality, property, and enterprise companies. Notably, it acquired Westinghouse Electrical Firm from chapter in 2018[75] in addition to a majority stake in Oaktree Capital Companions in 2019 for US $4,7 billion,[76] which has been elevated to 72 per cent in 2024.[77] In 2022, Brookfield Company spun off a 25 per cent curiosity in its asset administration enterprise, forming Brookfield Asset Administration Ltd., which manages US $916 billion in belongings.[78] This contains vital stakes in Oaktree Capital Administration and music writer Main Wave, which controls the music catalogues of famend artists like Ray Charles, Bob Marley, and Whitney Houston.[79]

DWS Group

DWS Group is the most recent PE firm that entered the music rights market in February 2025, when it funded a US $1 billion three way partnership between Slicing Edge Group and Warner Bros. The predecessor of DWS Group was the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wertpapiersparen, based in 1956, which was later renamed Die Wertpapier Spezialisten (DWS). It was a three way partnership of a number of German monetary establishments led by Deutsche Financial institution, which held a 30 per cent share. In 2004, DWS was totally acquired by Deutsche Financial institution, which reworked DWS right into a wealth and asset administration subsidiary. In 2018, DWS was spun off as a separate firm in an IPO on the Frankfurt inventory trade, with Deutsche Financial institution as the principle shareholder, which nonetheless holds nearly 80 per cent of the shares. With belongings beneath administration of EUR 896 billion, DWS is among the world’s largest asset administration corporations. DWS gives conventional passive funding automobiles resembling securities funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) but additionally elevated the variety of different funding alternatives resembling investments in actual property, infrastructure, personal fairness and liquid belongings.[80] State and municipal governmental companies are the principle buyers in DWS funds, adopted by insurance coverage corporations, pension and retirement plans and different funding corporations.[81]

Smaller PE Firms within the Music IPR Market

BlackRock, Blackstone, KKR, Apollo World Administration, Brookfield Asset Administration (together with Oaktree) and The Carlyle Group are the giants of worldwide asset administration and funding which have develop into lively previously few years in music rights market. For these companies, investing in music rights is a distinct segment exercise with a complete AUM of properly beneath 1 per cent, primarily for danger and portfolio diversification functions. The state of affairs is considerably completely different for smaller PE and asset administration companies, which need to pursue a distinct segment technique because of their restricted assets. We are going to present under that music rights investments are far more related to the general providing of those smaller companies by way of belongings beneath administration.

Thus, smaller PE corporations such because the US-based Hellman & Friedman (H&F), Francisco Companions, Windfall Fairness Companions, the Canadian Northleaf Capital Companions and Shamrock Capital Advisors have invested closely in music rights catalogues.

Hellman & Friedman (H&F) made a major funding within the music rights market by buying World Music Rights (GMR) for US $3.3 billion in September 2024, which is a 3.75 per cent share of whole AUM.[82] H&F, based in 1987 by former executives of Lehman Brothers and Solomon Brothers, focuses on leveraged buyouts and progress capital investments, specializing in media, monetary, and data companies. They’ve a historical past of investing in corporations like Axel Springer Verlag, Pro7Sat1 Group, Nielsen, Getty Photographs, and NASDAQ.[83] In 2024, H&F managed US $105 billion in belongings, primarily by means of personal fairness buyouts with their Capital Companions Funds. The most recent fund, the Capital Companions Fund XI, was established in 2023 and has US $22.3 billion in belongings. Main buyers embody public retirement and pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, and different personal fairness companies.[84]

One other San Francisco-based PE firm that has invested in music rights, is Francisco Companions Administration. Francisco Companions had US $45.0 billion AUM by the top of March 2024.[85] Francisco Companions was the lead investor of a consortium, which purchased a 90 per cent stake for US $750 million within the Swedish Kobalt Music Group, consisting of Kobalt Music Publishing and the music accumulating society AMRA in September 2022, which accounted for 1.67 per cent of whole AUM.[86] Francisco Companions was based in 1999 by former workers of different PE companies to concentrate on leveraged buyouts of tech corporations within the Silicon Valley.

One other related investor in music rights is Windfall Fairness Companions, which was based by Jonathan M. Nelson 1989 in Windfall, Rhode Island within the US. Windfall Fairness Companions focuses its investments on media, communications, training, and data applied sciences.[87] In July 2024, Windfall Fairness Companions had US $24.6 billion AUM.[88] In 2019, Windfall partnered with main music firm Warner Music Group to type Tempo Music to amass music publishing in addition to recording catalogues. Windfall offered US $650 million in fairness and debt and Warner acquired a small minority stake within the three way partnership specializing in the administration of the publishing and recorded music belongings purchased by the fund. In February 2025, Warner Music Group purchased a majority stake in Tempo Music for US $450 million from Windfall, which nonetheless holds a minority stake.[89]

Northleaf Capital, a Toronto-based personal fairness firm, has a protracted historical past relationship again to 1969 when it was based as TD Capital. Initially a part of TD Financial institution Monetary Group, it grew to become an unbiased entity in 2009. Northleaf focuses on direct investments in infrastructure and small to medium-sized corporations in OECD nations. In 2016, it expanded into personal credit score, providing loans to mid-market corporations. By 2023, Northleaf managed US $25 billion in funds and personal credit score applications from 275 institutional and particular person buyers.[90]

Northleaf’s investments in music rights are a part of its personal credit score enterprise, described as area of interest investments with low correlation to capital market developments. These investments embody music royalty streams, monetary claims in pending court docket instances, and factoring offers.[91] Northleaf’s portfolio contains corporations like Slicing Edge Group, Duetti, and Crescendo Royalty Funding. Notable offers embody a US $500 million debt refinancing for Slicing Edge Group,[92] a US $75 million credit score facility for Duetti, and a US $303.8 million asset-backed securities issuance by means of Crescendo Royalty Funding, backed by music rights from Spirit Music Group.[93] The London-based Blantyre Capital, which was based as a PE firm in 2016, invested US $125 million in Slicing Edge Media Music in 2022.[94] Since its inception Blantyre made greater than 70 investments price EUR 2.4 billion within the mid-market with a concentrate on European nations. In comparison with the same old investments, which vary from EUR 15 to 100 million, the Slicing Edge funding was distinctive excessive and accounts for greater than 5 per cent of the general investments since 2016.[95] In contrast to typical leveraged buyouts, Slicing Edge was a conventional M&A deal, with the intention of making a income platform. The most recent investments by Blantyre Capital have been the leveraged buyouts of the Spanish catering and residential meals supply


Endnotes

[1] BlackRock Inc., 2024, BlackRock 2023 Annual Report, p. 33.

[2] Carey David & John E. Morris, 2012, King of Capital. The Outstanding Rise, Fall, and Rise Once more of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone, New York: Forex, p. 59.

[3] Ibid., p. 124.

[4] CNN Cash, “Right here come the IPOs. An onslaught of firm debuts in coming days after week of high-flyers”, September 26, 1999, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[5] Billboard, “Main Wave’s CEO Explains a New $300 Million BlackRock Partnership, Getting Smokey Robinson a Sneaker Deal”, September 26, 2016, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[6] Reuters, “BlackRock to purchase Quellos fund of funds enterprise”, August 9, 2007, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[7] Main Wave press launch, “Simply Introduced: Strategic Partnerships with Brookfield Asset Administration and CAA!“, October 6, 2022, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[8] Selection, “Enrique Iglesias Sells Music Catalog to Affect Media in Reported 9-Determine Deal”, December 6, 2023, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[9] BlackRock press launch, “BlackRock to Purchase HPS Funding Companions to Ship Built-in Options Throughout Public and Non-public Markets”, December 3, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[10] Carey & Morris, 2012, King of Capital, p. 45.

[11] New York Occasions, “Firm Information; Vivendi Finishes Sale of Houghton Mifflin to Traders”, January 1, 2002, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[12] New York Occasions, “Firm Information; Blackstone Buys Majority Stake in Columbia Home”, Might 14, 2002, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[13] New York Occasions, “Blackstone to Purchase Hilton Resorts for $26 Billion”, July 7, 2007, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[14] New York Occasions, “Blackstone Founders Put together to Rely Their Billions”, June 12, 2007, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[15] Blackstone, 2024, Annual report for the fiscal yr ending December 31, 2023, p. 98.

[16] Billboard, “Was Blackstone’s SESAC Acquisition a $1 Billion Deal?”, January 6, 2017, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[17] Enterprise capital is a type of personal fairness and a kind of financing for startup corporations and small companies with long-term progress potential; see Investopia, “What Is Enterprise Capital? Definition, Professionals, Cons, and How It Works”, October 18, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[18] Japan Hana Actual Property, “Blackstone Buys $1B Japan Portfolio from PAG”, December 6, 2020, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[19] Blackstone press launch, “HH World Declares Settlement by Blackstone to make a £100m Strategic Minority Fairness Funding”, December 3, 2020, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[20] Pitchbook, “Blackstone Core Fairness Companions”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[21] Blackstone Tactical Alternatives Advisors, 2024, Brochure of Blackstone Tactical Alternatives Advisors L.L.C., Kind ADV, Half 2A, submitted to Funding Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) of the US Securities and Change Fee (SEC) on March 28, 2024.

[22] Pitchbook, “Blackstone Tactical Alternatives Fund I”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “New Mountain Capital-led group closes acquisition of BMI”, February 8, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[26] Monetary Occasions, “Dealmaker Steven Klinsky Quietly Hits Residence Runs Away from ’80s Limelight”, June 30, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[27] AUM 13F, “New Mountain Capital LLC”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[28] New York Occasions, “Ex-Drexel Executives Organize Assist for Fruit of the Loom”, August 24, 1990, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[29] Apollo Historical past, “Apollo expands into actual property”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[30] Ibid.

[31] New York Occasions, “Mine Firm Sells U.S. Unit”, April 12, 2007, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[32] Reuters, “Apollo chief says bought 9 p.c of agency to Abu Dhabi”, November 8, 2007, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[33] Reuters, “Apollo’s upsized IPO raises $565.4 million”, March 30, 2011, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[34] New York Occasions, “McGraw-Hill to Promote Training Unit to Apollo for $2.5 Billion”, November 26, 2012, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[35] Selection, “twenty first Century Fox and Apollo Seal Deal to Merge Shine, Endemol and Core”, October 10, 2014, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[36] CNET, “Yahoo has a brand new proprietor, once more”, September 1, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[37] CNBC, “Apollo World to purchase annuities supplier Athene in $11 billion deal”, March 8, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[38] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Right here. Come. The. Giants.”, October 7, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[39] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “HarbourView ups credit score facility capability by $100m to purchase extra music rights”, December 5, 2023, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[40] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Strap in. Blackstone is able to bid $1.5 billion for Hipgnosis Songs Fund”, April 20, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[41] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Apollo leads $700m funding into Sony Music Group partnership. (It’s a sort of magic!)”, July 26, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[42] Burroughs, Bryan and John Helyar, 1989, Barbarian on the Gates. The Fall of RJR Nabisco, New York: Harper & Row. The screenplay adaptation was written by Larry Gelbart and directed by Glenn Jordan.

[43] New York Occasions, “Safeway Buyout: A Success Story”, October 21, 1988, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[44] New York Occasions, “Kohlberg Kravis Set to Supply $1.2 Billion for Cable Maker”, January 24, 1997, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[45] New York Occasions, “Siemens Unit Is Bought”, October 23, 1999, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[46] New York Occasions, “Three Companies Are Stated to Purchase Toys ‘R’ Us for $6 Billion”, March 17, 2005, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[47] Bloomberg, “Capital Companies Conform to Purchase SunGard Information in Money Deal”, March 29, 2005, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[48] Reuters, “KKR, Texas Pacific-led group to purchase TXU Corp.”, August 9, 2007, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[49] Reuters, “KKR makes first retail real-estate funding”, April 19, 2012, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[50] The Hollywood Reporter, “Non-public Fairness Big KKR Buys Herbert Kloiber’s Tele Munchen Group”, February 21, 2019, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[51] Reuters, “KKR turns into Axel Springer’s greatest shareholder”, August 26, 2019, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[52] CNN Enterprise, “After attempting for 3 years, Paramount lastly unloads Simon & Schuster for $1.6 billion”, August 7, 2023, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[53] Billboard, “EU clears Bertelsmann, KKR music rights JV“, September 9, 2009, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[54] Billboard, “Bertelsmann Buys Out BMG for $390M“, March 1, 2013, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[55] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “KKR buys majority stake in Ryan Tedder catalog, marking funding big’s return to music rights possession“, January 11, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[56] A distressed debt fund invests in obligations of corporations which have filed for chapter or are very prone to file for chapter within the close to future, which bears a excessive default danger, however with the change of extraordinarily excessive potential returns. See Investopia, “Why Hedge Funds Love Investing in Distressed Debt”, June 16, 2023, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[57] Pitchbook, “KKR Dislocation Alternatives Fund”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[58] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Confirmed: Kobalt sells catalog to new KKR enterprise, Chord, for $1.1 billion”, October 19, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[59] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “BMG and KKR are able to spend $1bn on music copyrights – and that’s only for starters …“, April 6, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[60] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “3 observations on… Common Music Group’s $240m wager on Chord Music (and the actual story, Dundee Companions)”, February 20, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[61] The Carlyle Group Ltd., 2024, Annual report of The Carlyle Group for the fiscal yr ending December 31, 2023, p. 7.

[62] New York Occasions, “Navy Contractor Bought to Buyout Agency”, August 27, 1997, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[63] Los Angeles Occasions, “Qwest to Promote Directories Enterprise for $7 Billion”, August 20, 2002, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[64] New York Occasions, “Ford Completes Sale of Hertz to three Companies”, September 13, 2005, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[65] The MBS Group Information, “Carlyle buys 50% stake in skate model Supreme”, October 9, 2017, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[66] The Wall Road Journal, “Carlyle Costs IPO at Decrease Vary”, Might 2, 2012, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[67] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Keith City sells recordings catalog to $500m-backed Litmus Music”, December 13, 2022, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[68] Pitchbook, “Carlyle Credit score Alternatives Fund II”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[69] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “$500m-backed Litmus Music acquires music rights from Benny Blanco”, June 28, 2023, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[70] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Katy Perry sells music rights to Litmus Music in $220m+ deal”, September 18, 2023, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[71] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Litmus Music acquires Opus, proprietor of Juice WRLD and Maluma rights, after extending credit score facility to $400m”, September 4, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[72] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Carlyle-backed Litmus Music buys Randy Newman’s publishing, recorded music pursuits”, October 17, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[73] Worldwide Listing of Firm Histories, 2005, Brascan Company Historical past, vol.67. St. James Press, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[74] The Globe and Mail, “What’s in a reputation? Loads if it’s Brascan”, September 16, 2005, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[75] Reuters, “Brookfield Enterprise Companions to purchase Westinghouse for $4.6 billion”, January 4, 2018, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[76] Reuters, “Brookfield to purchase most of Oaktree to construct juggernaut to rival Blackstone”, March 14, 2019, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[77] Brookfield Asset Administration Ltd., 2024, Annual report of Brookfield Asset Administration for the monetary yr ending December 31, 2023, p. 156.

[78] Brookfield Company press launch, “Brookfield Company Efficiently Completes Distribution of 25% Curiosity in its Asset Administration Enterprise”, December 9, 2022, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[79] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Main Wave raises $375m funding from Oaktree Capital, sells minority stake“, June 11, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[80] DWS Group, Geschäftsbericht 2023, p. 6.

[81] Funding Adviser Public Disclosure web site, “DWS Worldwide GmbH”, January 14, 2025, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[82] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Irving Azoff’s GMR simply struck a $3.3 billion personal fairness deal, say MBW sources”, September 19, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[83] See Hellman & Friedman, “Portfolio”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[84] Pitchbook, “Hellman & Friedman Capital Companions XI”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[85] Funding Adviser Public Disclosure web site, “Francisco Companions Administration L.P.”, Might 28, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[86] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Kobalt Music Group bought to US-based personal fairness agency Francisco Companions”, September 7, 2022, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[87] New York Occasions, “They’re Only a Bunch of Common Media Moguls”, September 14, 2003, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[88] Funding Adviser Public Disclosure web site, “Windfall Fairness Companions LLC”, July 26, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[89] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Confirmed: Warner buys majority stake in Tempo (simply as MBW advised you it could)”, February 6, 2025, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[90] Northleaf Capital Companions, “Historical past & Key Milestones”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

[91] Ibid.

[92] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Slicing Edge Group secures $500m to fund music rights acquisitions”, April 15, 2024, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[93] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “One other huge music deal, as Spirit Music Group father or mother strikes $500m alliance with Northleaf Capital Companions”, October 14, 2021, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[94] Music Enterprise Worldwide, “Slicing Edge and Blantyre Capital commit $125m to amass movie and TV music rights”, January 4, 2022, accessed: 2025-05-28.

[95] Blantyre, “Who We Are”, and “Funding Portfolio”, n.d., accessed: 2025-05-28.

* This weblog put up relies on the report IP Finance within the Music Business, which was commissioned by the World Mental Property Rights Group (WIPO).