Kobalt Partners with Madverse Music Group for Global Publishing

Sound Royalties says it closed a record $135 million in funded contracts in 2025, marking its strongest year yet for advancing capital to creators and rights holders. This underscores how alternative revenue financing continues to grow as an important financial tool in today’s music ecosystem. David Philp #MusicFinance #RoyaltyFunding #CreatorEconomy #BusinessInsights

As expected, the European Commission’s competition division has given today the green light to the acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings by Universal Music Group‘s distribution and services unit for the independent sector Virgin Music Group, conditional upon the full divestment of Downtown’s royalty accounting platform Curve Royalty Systems. UMG welcomed the decision and said the European Commission’s approval was “the final regulatory condition required to complete the transaction,” which is now expected to close “in the coming weeks.” UMG will pay $775 million for Downtown.  The merger was strongly opposed by independent labels’ organisation IMPALA Independent Music Companies Association. Helen Smith, Executive Chair of IMPALA, thanked the European Commission “for their determination in taking this case all the way through a detailed Phase II investigation" but said “the final outcome falls short.” https://lnkd.in/eyHvs2u4

Music Markets Benefit From Diversified Revenue and Financial Structuring The music industry is demonstrating financial resilience as revenue streams diversify beyond streaming alone. Live touring, publishing income, licensing, and brand partnerships are contributing to more stable cash flows for artists, labels, and rights holders. At the same time, structured financing—such as royalty-backed deals and catalog investments—is attracting institutional interest, positioning music as a maturing asset class within the broader media economy. Full Article: https://lnkd.in/e6R2WQrE

Kobalt Music joins hands with India’s Madverse Music Group in a move set to strengthen global publishing access for independent creators. The partnership signals a bigger push towards transparency, scale, and international reach Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/dWfwX5dE Rohan Nesho Jain Simon Moor

We are pleased to share that Duetti, a catalog acquisition company partnering with independent artists, announced $200 million in new funding to accelerate the acquisition and management of music catalogs for independent artists, songwriters, and other creators. In approximately 3.5 years, Duetti has raised over $635 million (including more than $100 million of equity) in support of the global independent music community. The financing includes a $50 million Series C equity investment led by The Raine Group, alongside a second $125 million private securitization—bringing the total size of its ABS master trust to $205 million—and a $25 million expansion of an existing credit facility. To date, Duetti has partnered with more than 1,100 music creators across 40+ countries and is currently signing 80+ deals per month, more than 2.5x its pace one year ago. The company also provides extensive catalog management and marketing services to its artist and creator partners. “This new funding allows us to continue building the technology and systems needed to identify, manage, and support independent creators’ catalogs at scale,” said Lior Tibon, CEO and Co-Founder of Duetti. For further details see: https://lnkd.in/ecESdiNE

#ISNI at the point of creation: Sound Credit strengthens music metadata from studio to distribution 🎧 🎶 High-quality music metadata doesn’t start at the point of release—it starts at the point of creation. That’s why Sound Credit—an early advocate of ISNI in the music sector, and an official ISNI Registration Agency—has integrated ISNI issuance directly into the creative process. Sound Credit enables creators to register ISNIs as they collaborate, credit, and prepare works for release. This workflow has already supported over 11,000 ISNI assignments, reflecting a growing industry movement to improve attribution, rights management, and discovery across the supply chain. Beyond registration, ISNI sits alongside other key identifiers in Sound Credit’s production toolkit—supporting cleaner exports to distributors, PROs/CMOs, labels and other downstream partners when music is ready to move. 📨 Read the full story in the latest edition of #ISNInews, including Tony Brooke, MLIS's reflections on why early-stage identifier workflows matter for discoverability, crediting and payment: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/edREz_sz Learn how ISNI can enhance your music metadata and support sector workflows — visit our website at https://isni.org or get in touch via info@isni.org #GetAnISNI #Copyright #MusicTechnology #DigitalWorkflows #MusicIndustry #MusicCreditsToTheRightfulOwner

A little update for our current/future staff, clients, partners, talent, customers and investors: SoundCloud is the first music company to introduce fan-powered royalties, where independent artists can get paid more because of their dedicated fans. 'As of November 2025, SoundCloud updated its distribution royalty revenue share rate from 80% to 100%, which means artists receive 100% of any earnings, whether from SoundCloud streams or royalties generated on other platforms.  For each payout, our third-party payout processor now applies a small processing fee based on your payout method, ranging from $0.50 to $25 USD, but with no hidden fees or surprise deductions. You can see your estimated payout fee when viewing or editing your payout method, as well as in your earnings statements' - https://lnkd.in/eYFceeAz Here is a table showing an estimated list of fees to help creator choose the correct payable method: 1/3

PAMB Cohort 3 is officially underway! Module 1: Introduction to the Global Music Business & Future Trends continued with an excellent session by Daniel Norgard, Professor of Music Business and Management; Director, CreaTeME; and Deputy Director, MishMash. In Lesson 2: The Future of the Music Industry, Daniel explored digital change, music streaming, data, AI, innovation, and convergence, with one clear takeaway: the future of the music industry is data-driven. Data defines ownership, while metadata shapes usage and experience. As Cohort 3 progresses, Lesson 3 will focus on Copyright, Neighbouring Rights & Collective Management, the foundations of ownership, usage, and revenue in the music ecosystem. The PurpleBlue Academy of Music Business sincerely appreciates Daniel Nordgård, one of PAMB’s strongest supporters, for another impactful session. A strong start to an exciting journey. #PAMB #Cohort3 #MusicBusinessEducation #FutureOfMusic #DataAndAI #Copyright #NeighbouringRights #CollectiveManagement

Concord Invests in Azoff Company’s Indie Label, Giant Music Concord has made an undisclosed strategic investment in The Azoff Company's independent label, Giant Music. The deal includes a new global distribution partnership with Stem, which Concord previously acquired, aiming to scale Giant's operations and expand its artist development and global marketing efforts while it remains independent. #musicindustry #musicbusinessnews