Music Industry

How do you even break into the finance side of the music industry. I’ve never heard anyone talk about it here. And don’t the music execs make actual fuck tons in just straight cash. I see all these artists catalogues getting sold to hedge funds for like $200mil. There’s gotta be some way to get in on that right?

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My group covers TMT, which also includes entertainment and music.  If you find an employer that covers entertainment or media, you have a solid chance of being staffed on those deals. It's often about licensing, rights management, publishing, (..)

They aren't really more interesting deals, you won't meet the artists or the PR team on this. At least we didn't.

 

going to have to kindly disagree here. The Spotify layoffs were geared more at the Product side of the music industry. It's more the result of a public traded co trying to expand margins for shareholders by leveraging their ever-growing tech / data / AI platform that is able to replace people with software. 

When you look at the investing side of the industry, it's surging like crazy. every week a new firm or fund of a larger PE firm enters the space to try to get in on the action. when you think of investments in artists' catalogies vs traditional port co's these things are cash flow machines, consistently generating revenue despite the overarching macro environment. not to mention, it's also a super cool space. I am a second year IB analyst that was following the beaten path of traditional PE coverage but have bowed out to shoot my shot over in the music investing space. it's tougher to break into given it's niche and less "accessible" to the traditional IB analyst but it seems like an amazing place to invest an in interesting and impactful way 

 

Some commercial banks specialize in that industry. Pinnacle Financial Partners based in Nashville has a group that specializes in commercial lending to record labels and artists (or something, I'm not exactly sure who their clients are). Presumably due to the proximity to country music scene. If you enterprising enough, you could maybe network with one of their bankers and get insight. 

"And where we had thought to be alone we shall be with all the world"
 

that's sweet. Universal Music Group has a similar gig, and they have been super active over the recent month, especially with their investment in Chord. I'm trying to break in - currently a second year analyst in the technology group of a MM investment bank

 

I have seen some esoteric ABS deals related to streaming/royalties revenue from music catalogues. That HF probably invested in a deal like this. I am sure there are some roles related to structuring/investing in these ABS deals though I am not sure if it would focus solely on music. Probably would include other ABS strategies like consumer CCs or something.

 

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