With the music industry settled into a post-pandemic routine and the halcyon days of initial public offerings in the rearview mirror, 2024 could have been a sleepy year for financial transactions. It didn’t work out that way. Instead, it was filled with the kind of large deals that changed the music business landscape., had been shopped since 2022 and 2023, respectively. BMI’s acquisition by private equity firm New Mountain Capital was a foregone conclusion —the U.S.
There were countless notable deals outside of the top 12, too. Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group went on a buying spree, investing in and acquiring distributors and record labels, with an eye on emerging markets. Recording artists, songwriters and producers sold their rights — often including name and likeness — to a wide range of traditional and financial buyers. Today’s abundance of financing options created a long tail of deals both big and small.
for a 26% stake in Dundee Partners’ catalog acquisition platform, Chord Music. The novel deal means that the world’s biggest music company now manages the distribution and publishing administration for Chord’s 60,000 copyrights, and UMG can rely on its partners at Chord to help fund catalog acquisitions, thereby using less of its own money. Future catalog acquisitions will be held in Chord, which was valued at $1.85 billion after UMG’s investment.