Trying again on the largest music offers of 2025, one sort of deal is conspicuous by its absence: Blockbuster acquisitions of famous person artists’ catalogs.
Not one of the artist catalog offers this 12 months – not less than people who have been reported – exceeded the sums reported on final 12 months’s listing, which included Sony Music’s acquisitions of all or components of the catalogs of Queen, Pink Floyd, and Michael Jackson.
The largest particular person artist-related deal on this 12 months’s listing is for the masters of Taylor Swift‘s first six albums, acquired by… Taylor Swift from Shamrock Capital.
So what’s taking the place of those offers? Debt issuances, and plenty of them. Asset-backed securitization (ABS) of music catalogs has actually taken off. The opposite: joint ventures and fundraising rounds to construct conflict chests for future acquisitions.
And in one other signal of the occasions, one in every of this 12 months’s largest offers didn’t contain the same old gamers in New York, Los Angeles, or London – it got here from China, the place music streaming big Tencent Music Leisure acquired podcast firm Ximalaya for the equal of $2.4 billion.
Under, you’ll discover the 23 greatest music enterprise offers of 2025.
(Earlier than that, although, a quick couple of notes: (a) This listing consists of solely offers whose worth is understood, both by means of official bulletins or solid-gold sources. (b) We additionally haven’t included re-financing of conventional/convertible debt choices by the music business’s largest corporations together with Common, Sony, Warner, and Reside Nation.)
In a transparent signal of the rising significance of growing markets to the music business, this 12 months’s greatest deal came about in China, the place Tencent Music Leisure, the nation’s largest operator of music streaming providers, acquired podcast firm Ximalaya.
Like its international rival Spotify, Tencent is busy increasing its providing from music to different types of audio, and – in Tencent’s case – even into reside occasions.
Based on information experiences, the deal for Ximalaya concerned a mixture of money and inventory, with TME shelling out $1.26 billion in money and as much as 5.2% of its complete excellent Class A extraordinary inventory.
As of 2023, Ximalya had 303 million month-to-month energetic customers (MAUs). By the use of comparability, TME itself counted551 million MAUs as of the third quarter of this 12 months, of which 125.7 million have been paying music subscribers.
Music rights as an investible asset class are going from power to power, and one clear signal of that is Chord Music Companions‘ elevate earlier this 12 months, which as of August – per an unique report at MBW – had reached $2 billion. However that determine was anticipated to develop to as a lot as $3 billion and even $4 billion by the point funding spherical closed in October.
The spherical was dominated by fairness investments from pension funds within the US and Europe in addition to a number of household places of work, and likewise included a debt part. One confirmed investor was Searchlight Capital Companions.
Dundee Companions is the controlling shareholder in Chord Music Companions, with Common Music Group holding a 26% stake.
Harmony‘s fourth foray into the ABS (asset-backed securities) market was its largest and, apparently, the most important and longest-tenured securitization of music rights by anybody so far, with senior notes of as much as 10 years.
The $1.76 billion elevate was backed by Harmony’s catalog of greater than 1.3 million music copyrights, together with works by such artists as The Beatles, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, and The Rolling Stones. The catalog was valued at $5.1 billion forward of the ABS transaction.
Harmony’s newest ABS transaction adopted an $850-million issuance in October 2024 (five-year notes maturing in October 2029), a part of which was used to purchase a $217 million catalog from Latin music famous person Daddy Yankee.
Invoice Ackman‘s Pershing Sq. has made out very properly on its ongoing funding in Common Music Group, and in March of this 12 months, it offered a 2.7% stake for EUR €1.3 billion (about USD $1.4 billion on the time).
Ackman famous on the time of the sale that UMG “considerably outperformed the remainder of our portfolio” year-to-date. The sale decreased UMG’s share of Pershing’s holdings from round 27% of its capital to round 17%.
Nonetheless, Pershing Sq. stays a significant UMG shareholder following the sale, holding about 7.6% of the world’s largest music firm.
The debut fund from Pophouse Leisure, the Sweden-based music funding agency co-founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, was a whopper: €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion on the time) raised in what the corporate known as “one of many largest first-time non-public fairness funds to be raised in Europe within the final decade.”
That’s not together with one other €200 million ($216 million) raised by means of devoted co-investment autos, which gave buyers “the chance to speculate alongside the Fund and take part in choose transactions.”
Pophouse stated the capital would go in direction of buying music catalogs and different IP, and 30% of it had already been deployed by means of partnerships with artists similar to KISS, Cyndi Lauper, Avicii and Swedish Home Mafia.
This 12 months noticed Warner Music Group crew up with funding big Bain Capital to launch a fund aimed toward buying “legendary” catalogs in each recorded music and publishing.
The 50-50 three way partnership entails WMG and Bain every contributing $250 million in fairness capital, plus round $500 million in preliminary debt secured by the JV’s music property, with the choice of accelerating the debt facility to $700 million, for a complete conflict chest of as much as $1.2 billion.
Based on information experiences, one of many JV’s first acquisition targets is the recording catalog of the Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers. Unconfirmed information experiences in late November indicated that Warner is near putting a deal for RHCP’s recordings, at a worth level above $300 million.
Marshall, the UK-born music gear recognized for its rock amplifiers, discovered a brand new majority proprietor this 12 months within the type of Beijing-based HongShan Capital Group, a enterprise capital and personal fairness agency that has invested in some 1,500 companies.
The deal price €1.1 billion ($1.16 billion on the time of the deal) noticed the Marshall household retain a 20% stake within the 63-year-old firm based in West London by Jim ‘The Father of Loud’ Marshall and son Terry.
As of 2023, the corporate had been majority-owned by Swedish tech firm Zound Industries. Marshall continues to fabricate amps at its facility in Milton Keynes, UK.
Leisure big Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shaped a three way partnership early this 12 months with media music rights firm Reducing Edge Group to handle WBD’s catalog of movie and TV music.
Below a deal reported by the Monetary Occasions to be price greater than $1 billion, WBD’s music rights could be offered into the JV, with Reducing Edge buying a part of the portfolio and taking up administration of the property, which embrace music from the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises, in addition to films like Insurgent And not using a Trigger, Blade Runner and Shawshank Redemption, and TV reveals like Pals, Sport of Thrones, The West Wing and Intercourse and the Metropolis.
Co-investing within the transaction was DWS Group, the asset administration arm of Deutsche Financial institution.
SESAC Music Group, which owns performing rights org SESAC in addition to Harry Fox Company (HFA) and AudioSalad, turned to the bond markets this 12 months to lift $889 million.
The entire enterprise securitization (WBS) noticed SESAC difficulty five-year senior notes backed by “considerably all SESAC Music Group’s property and revenues,” together with subsidiaries in its performing rights and music providers divisions.
This was the fourth time that SESAC went into the asset-backed securitization marketplace for capital, and CEO John Josephson stated WBS transactions “will stay an important half” of the corporate’s development technique.
Live performance and occasions big Reside Nation upped its stake in Mexican live performance promoter OCESA this 12 months, shelling out $646 million for a 24% stake within the firm.
That brings Reside Nation’s complete share of OCESA to 75% from 51% earlier. In an indication of simply how a lot Mexico’s reside music enterprise has grown in recent times, LN’s new 24% stake was valued at some 50% greater than the unique majority stake, which LN purchased for $416 million again in 2021.
Reside Nation CEO Michael Rapino famous that OCESA and LN have tripled the variety of followers attending their reveals since 2019.
HarbourView Fairness Companions, which owns rights in music from artists similar to T-Ache, George Benson, Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, Pat Benatar, Nelly, Wiz Khalifa and others, secured $500 million this 12 months from funding big KKR, backed by HarbourView’s catalog of music royalties.
Founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke stated the corporate plans to make use of the brand new financing “to scale up, so as to add to its portfolio of music content material and to push deeper into movie and TV-rights administration.”
Since its founding in 2021, HarbourView has amassed some $2.67 billion in regulatory property below administration.
Charles Goldstuck‘s GoldState Music raised $500 million this previous spring with which to accumulate additional music rights.
The elevate included a “structured capital facility” co-led by Northleaf Capital Companions and Ares Administration funds, in addition to “individually raised leverage.”
Goldstuck stated the capital will allow the corporate “to additional speed up our capacity to capitalize on growing demand for music and construct a diversified portfolio of music property throughout artists and genres.”
Ticketing platform Eventbrite introduced in December that it’s being acquired by Bending Spoons, an Italy-headquartered non-public fairness agency that focuses on shopping for and turning round tech manufacturers which have misplaced their luster.
The $500-million all-cash deal will see Eventbrite delisted from the New York Inventory Change after the deal is accomplished within the first half of 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.
Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari stated the corporate is eyeing numerous new options for Eventbrite, together with a messaging perform and a transfer into the secondary ticketing market.
Carlyle Group reportedly closed a $464 million debt issuance earlier this 12 months, backed by music rights held by Litmus Music.
Litmus was launched in 2022 by business veterans Hank Forsyth and Dan McCarroll, backed by $500 million from Carlyle International Credit score, cut up between fairness and debt.
The bond sale was backed by a $750 million portfolio of music property, together with works by Katy Perry, Benny Blanco and Keith City.
Warner Music Group in February introduced its acquisition of a majority stake in Tempo Music, the music rights fund began by Windfall Fairness Companions.
Windfall retains a minority stake in Tempo, whose catalog of rights and earnings streams consists of works by the likes of Twenty One Pilots’ Tyler Joseph, Wiz Khalifa, Florida Georgia Line, The Jonas Brothers, Korn, and Grammy-winning songwriters Brett James and Shane McAnally.
Notably, this was Warner’s largest acquisition since Robert Kyncl took the helm as CEO in the beginning of 2023.
Blackstone-owned Recognition Music Group issued $372 million in bonds this previous summer time, backed by 144 music catalogs containing over 47,000 compositions and recordings, amongst them works by Justin Bieber, Shakira and Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers.
Recognition’s catalog consists of what was often known as Hipgnosis Songs Fund, till Blackstone acquired it final summer time.
Lower than a 12 months earlier, Higpnosis Songs Fund closed a $1.47 billion ABS transaction, with the capital going in direction of repaying debt and financing new transactions.
Taylor Swift purchased again the grasp recording rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Capital this 12 months, ending a years-long drama that started when Scooter Braun‘s Ithaca Holdings acquired Massive Machine Label Group in 2019, together with the Taylor Swift masters.
Taylor was famously sad about that deal, and ended up re-recording these albums as “Taylor’s Variations.”
Varied estimates for Taylor’s acquisition have been reported. Based on unnamed sources cited byBillboard, the masters got here with a $360 million price ticket.
Music rights firm Affect Media Companions raised $360 million this 12 months by means of its first non-public financing, collateralized by royalties from its music rights portfolio.
The transaction was led by Goldman Sachsand Truist Securities, performing as co-structuring and joint placement brokers, with BlackRock as a joint placement agent.
Based in 2019 with a $750 million fund backed by BlackRock Various Traders and Warner Music Group, Affect has invested in music from artists similar to Enrique Iglesias, Blake Shelton, Tyler Johnson and Logic, amongst others.
Suno, one of many generative AI music platforms presently busy settling copyright lawsuits introduced in opposition to it by the music majors, closed a $250 million Sequence C funding spherical in November, which valued the startup at $2.45 billion.
The spherical was led by Menlo Ventures with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA’s enterprise capital arm), Hallwood Media, Lightspeed and Matrix.
Suno’s latest settlement with Warner Music Group, which comes not lengthy after rival Udio settled its personal lawsuits with Common Music Group and WMG, may see the platform change dramatically because it companions with WMG artists. Past creating AI music, Suno customers may quickly be interacting with WMG artists “in new methods.”
GoDigital, the mother or father firm of report label, distributor and rights administration firm Cinq Music, raised $230 million in capital this 12 months, led by Financial institution of America, with participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Monetary Group, East West Financial institution, First Horizon, Fifth Third, and Flag Star.
GoDigital additionally rebranded, dropping the GoDigital Media Group moniker and creating three new enterprise items: GoDigital Music, Networks, and Manufacturers.
The corporate additionally introduced that Cinq Music itself will bear a rebrand that can embrace a brand new title.
Duetti, the corporate on a mission to “democratize” music rights acquisitions by making them obtainable to indie artists, raised $200 million in debt financing, with $150 million coming from a financial institution facility and $50 million from a aspect facility from Viola Credit score.
The capital goes in direction of Duetti’s plan to develop from buying recorded music rights to buying publishing rights and royalty streams.
“We imagine we’re main the way in which in educating the capital markets on the numerous long-term worth of the unbiased music sector,” Co-Founder and CEO Lior Tibon stated.
Music financing platform beatBread, which affords algorithm-powered advances to indie artists, raised $124 million to develop its gross sales, advertising and product operations, along with offering extra versatile funding to artists, writers, and label purchasers.
beatBread obtained fairness funding from Citi, Deciens Capital, Mucker Capital, and Benefit Capital within the spherical. Extra credit score was offered by GMO and different lenders, the corporate stated.
As of February of this 12 months, beatBread had paid advances to over 1,300 purchasers throughout six continents, with quantities starting from $1,000 to over $10 million. These advances cowl each present music catalogs and new, unreleased materials.
After elevating $500 million in new debt financing (see above), HarbourView Fairness Companions acquired a majority stake within the catalog of metallic band Slipknot.
The corporate didn’t disclose the deal’s worth, however sources cited byBillboard positioned it at $120 million. The deal reportedly included publishing and recorded masters rights.
HarbourView Founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke known as the band a “international cultural phenomenon” and stated the music rights funding firm plans to “protect and amplify the group’s work for many years and generations to come back.”
