Music Industry Finance?

I'm really interested in working somewhere related to the music industry for FT after I graduate. I understand there are very few investment banks that cover the music industry exclusively. Some PE firms come to mind like Vine Alternative but don't think they hire out of undergrad. Does anyone have insight into how to corp fin. roles for record labels or studios work?

Are these type of roles even available to someone with only intern IB experience?

Thanks all

15 Comments
 

I know for a fact that some important players in the space hire for Corp Dev out of undergrad. Look at the majors (Warner Music, Universal, Sony) and at the independent publishers (Kobalt, Downtown Music, etc)

 

Honestly concerned about this as well. If the pay is 80% as good though, I'd probably switch career paths

 

I would caution you that this is not as fun s it may sound. I have been around some music deals, and honestly a lot of these companies are pretty scammy opportunists trying to buy and monetize artists portfolios. Others are doing just odd things trying to make a buck of royalties. Then there’s the big publishers who really just open you up to the primary issues with the music industry.

Point being if you have a hobby or passion, you should probably continue to enjoy that as a hobby or passion (unless you can make money making or producing the actual music). When banking factors come involved, it means $$$ which draws you to the most unfortunate arenas of the things we love.

The last music deal I worked on was a POS company doing POS things and trying to find ways to overvalue their POS operations. So maybe I’m biased. Lol

 

SESAC is only 1 of 3 PROs (Performance Rights Organizations) in the US, and the only for-profit company of the 3. Interesting company to understand the industry, if you have worked on this company before.

There's Warner Music Group (WMG), as mentioned. They've been in the market a bunch of times. Steinway Musical. Tikitek - like the Ticketmaster of Australia I wanna say - they did a deal recently. Cast & Crew - provides software & services to entertainment industry.

 

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