Wanting again on the largest music offers of 2025, one kind of deal is conspicuous by its absence: Blockbuster acquisitions of celebrity artists’ catalogs.
Not one of the artist catalog offers this yr – at the very least people who have been reported – exceeded the sums reported on final yr’s record, which included Sony Music’s acquisitions of all or elements of the catalogs of Queen, Pink Floyd, and Michael Jackson.
The largest particular person artist-related deal on this yr’s record 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 many them. Asset-backed securitization (ABS) of music catalogs has actually taken off. The opposite: joint ventures and fundraising rounds to construct warfare chests for future acquisitions.
And in one other signal of the occasions, one in every of this yr’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 large Tencent Music Leisure acquired podcast firm Ximalaya for the equal of $2.4 billion.
Beneath, you’ll discover the 23 greatest music enterprise offers of 2025.
(Earlier than that, although, a short couple of notes: (a) This record consists of solely offers whose worth is thought, 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 Stay Nation.)
In a transparent signal of the rising significance of creating markets to the music business, this yr’s greatest deal passed off in China, the place Tencent Music Leisure, the nation’s largest operator of music streaming companies, 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 stay occasions.
In accordance with information studies, the deal for Ximalaya concerned a mix of money and inventory, with TME shelling out $1.26 billion in money and as much as 5.2% of its whole excellent Class A strange inventory.
As of 2023, Ximalya had 303 million month-to-month lively customers (MAUs). By the use of comparability, TME itself counted551 million MAUs as of the third quarter of this yr, of which 125.7 million have been paying music subscribers.
Music rights as an investible asset class are going from energy to energy, and one clear signal of that is Chord Music Companions‘ increase earlier this yr, 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 workplaces, 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 increase 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 celebrity 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 yr, 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 diminished UMG’s share of Pershing’s holdings from round 27% of its capital to round 17%.
However, Pershing Sq. stays a serious 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 take a position alongside the Fund and take part in choose transactions.”
Pophouse mentioned the capital would go in the direction of buying music catalogs and different IP, and 30% of it had already been deployed by means of partnerships with artists corresponding to KISS, Cyndi Lauper, Avicii and Swedish Home Mafia.
This yr noticed Warner Music Group group up with funding large 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 warfare chest of as much as $1.2 billion.
In accordance with information studies, one of many JV’s first acquisition targets is the recording catalog of the Purple Scorching Chili Peppers. Unconfirmed information studies in late November indicated that Warner is near hanging a deal for RHCP’s recordings, at a worth level above $300 million.
Marshall, the UK-born music gear identified for its rock amplifiers, discovered a brand new majority proprietor this yr 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 value €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 large Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shaped a three way partnership early this yr with media music rights firm Slicing Edge Group to handle WBD’s catalog of movie and TV music.
Underneath a deal reported by the Monetary Occasions to be value greater than $1 billion, WBD’s music rights could be offered into the JV, with Slicing Edge buying a part of the portfolio and taking up administration of the property, which embody music from the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises, in addition to films like Insurgent With no Trigger, Blade Runner and Shawshank Redemption, and TV exhibits like Associates, 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 yr to boost $889 million.
The entire enterprise securitization (WBS) noticed SESAC situation five-year senior notes backed by “considerably all SESAC Music Group’s property and revenues,” together with subsidiaries in its performing rights and music companies divisions.
This was the fourth time that SESAC went into the asset-backed securitization marketplace for capital, and CEO John Josephson mentioned WBS transactions “will stay an important half” of the corporate’s progress technique.
Live performance and occasions large Stay Nation upped its stake in Mexican live performance promoter OCESA this yr, shelling out $646 million for a 24% stake within the firm.
That brings Stay Nation’s whole share of OCESA to 75% from 51% earlier. In an indication of simply how a lot Mexico’s stay music enterprise has grown lately, 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.
Stay Nation CEO Michael Rapino famous that OCESA and LN have tripled the variety of followers attending their exhibits since 2019.
HarbourView Fairness Companions, which owns rights in music from artists corresponding to T-Ache, George Benson, Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, Pat Benatar, Nelly, Wiz Khalifa and others, secured $500 million this yr from funding large KKR, backed by HarbourView’s catalog of music royalties.
Founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke mentioned 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 underneath administration.
Charles Goldstuck‘s GoldState Music raised $500 million this previous spring with which to amass additional music rights.
The increase included a “structured capital facility” co-led by Northleaf Capital Companions and Ares Administration funds, in addition to “individually raised leverage.”
Goldstuck mentioned the capital will allow the corporate “to additional speed up our capacity to capitalize on rising 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 Trade after the deal is accomplished within the first half of 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.
Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari mentioned the corporate is eyeing various 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 yr, 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 revenue 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 initially of 2023.
Blackstone-owned Recognition Music Group issued $372 million in bonds this previous summer season, backed by 144 music catalogs containing over 47,000 compositions and recordings, amongst them works by Justin Bieber, Shakira and Purple Scorching Chili Peppers.
Recognition’s catalog consists of what was once referred to as Hipgnosis Songs Fund, till Blackstone acquired it final summer season.
Lower than a yr earlier, Higpnosis Songs Fund closed a $1.47 billion ABS transaction, with the capital going in the 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 yr, ending a years-long drama that started when Scooter Braun‘s Ithaca Holdings acquired Huge 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.”
Numerous estimates for Taylor’s acquisition have been reported. In accordance with unnamed sources cited byBillboard, the masters got here with a $360 million price ticket.
Music rights firm Affect Media Companions raised $360 million this yr 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, appearing 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 Different Traders and Warner Music Group, Affect has invested in music from artists corresponding 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 towards it by the music majors, closed a $250 million Collection 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 current 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 guardian firm of file label, distributor and rights administration firm Cinq Music, raised $230 million in capital this yr, 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 endure a rebrand that may embody a brand new identify.
Duetti, the corporate on a mission to “democratize” music rights acquisitions by making them out there to indie artists, raised $200 million in debt financing, with $150 million coming from a financial institution facility and $50 million from a facet facility from Viola Credit score.
The capital goes in the direction of Duetti’s plan to broaden from buying recorded music rights to buying publishing rights and royalty streams.
“We consider 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 mentioned.
Music financing platform beatBread, which provides algorithm-powered advances to indie artists, raised $124 million to broaden its gross sales, advertising and product operations, along with offering extra versatile funding to artists, writers, and label purchasers.
beatBread acquired fairness funding from Citi, Deciens Capital, Mucker Capital, and Benefit Capital within the spherical. Further credit score was offered by GMO and different lenders, the corporate mentioned.
As of February of this yr, 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 current 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 steel 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 mentioned the music rights funding firm plans to “protect and amplify the group’s work for many years and generations to return.”
