Music tech ownership ouroboros, 2025 edition
The music technology sector has come of age. What started as a relatively niche investment thesis has matured into a powerhouse market segment, drawing tens of billions in capital since 2020.
For five years, we’ve been mapping these shifting power dynamics through our “Music Tech Ownership Ouroboros” — a living document that traces the complex web of investments, ownership stakes, and strategic acquisitions shaping music and tech.
The name “ouroboros” is fitting: Like the mythical serpent, these relationships form an endless cycle of interconnected interests, where major labels, tech platforms, and private equity firms increasingly feed into each other's growth strategies.
Our latest update adds over 30 new relationships to the map, primarily reflecting 2024's wave of private equity investments and industry consolidation.
Please note: While comprehensive, this visualization isn't exhaustive. For the sake of scope, the diagram focuses primarily on growth-stage investments and acquisitions in music tech, involving major labels, media and tech conglomerates, private equity firms, and institutional investors.
Think of our Ouroboros as your strategic lens into music tech's evolving power structure, and perhaps a roadmap for identifying tomorrow's key partnerships and investment opportunities. We will publish a separate list of early-stage investments in music tech startups on our database page.
Three key narratives dominated 2024's deal flow:
Private equity doubles down on music
Music has emerged as private equity's recession-resistant darling, thanks to streaming's predictable revenue patterns and live entertainment's remarkable post-pandemic resilience.
Private equity firm Flexpoint Ford exemplifies this confidence, building a diverse portfolio through strategic investments in Create Music Group ($165M), Duetti ($114M), and GoldState Music.
By taking itself off the public markets, Believe, which owns TuneCore, is also now co-owned by two private equity firms, EQT and TCV.
The live sector is proving equally magnetic, as shown by KKR’s bold $1.4B acquisition of Superstruct Entertainment, as well as Sixth Street Growth’s $130M investment in atVenu for live commerce.
Majors rush to own independent infrastructure
The major labels are finally facing a crucial reality: Independent music's market share keeps climbing, and controlling the infrastructure behind it is becoming as vital as owning rights.
Universal Music Group's Virgin Music Group led this charge in 2024 — snapping up Downtown Music Holdings in a $775M power move, as well as independent services companies [PIAS] and Outdustry.
Meanwhile, a new breed of tech-focused holding companies is emerging, following the blueprint laid by Downtown Music Holdings and Songtradr. Australia's Vinyl Group made particularly aggressive moves in 2024, acquiring Serenade, Mediaweek, Funkified, and Concrete Playground in rapid succession.
Institutional capital reshapes rights ownership
As we predicted, 2024 was largely a technology- and events-focused investment cycle for music tech. That said, traditional investment firms continue consolidating music rights ownership.
Hellman & Friedman's majority stake in Global Music Rights marks a watershed moment — private equity firms now control three major PROs (alongside New Mountain Capital's BMI and Blackstone's SESAC). Blackstone's successful acquisition of Hipgnosis Songs Fund further cements institutional investors’ central role in the financialization of music rights.
Looking ahead, this consolidation wave raises fundamental questions about music's future infrastructure.
Will increased institutional investment really drive genuine innovation and efficiency? Or will the concentration of power among PE-backed global players have a negative impact on artists’ access to essential services?
As the lines blur between music companies, tech platforms, and financial institutions, one thing becomes clear: Controlling music's technological backbone is now as strategically valuable as owning the rights themselves.
Full changelog of new deals in the ouroboros:
- Flexpoint Ford:
- $114M investment in Duetti*
- $165M investment in Create Music Group*
- Investment in GoldState Music
- KKR:
- $1.4B acquisition of Superstruct Entertainment*
- $500M investment (debt financing) in HarbourView Equity Partners*
- $1.1B acquisition of Kobalt Capital’s Fund II Music Rights Portfolio
- Virgin Music Group:
- Vinyl Group:
- AU$7.6M capital raise from Peloton Capital*
- AU$10M acquisition of The Brag Media
- AU$5M acquisition of Concrete Playground*
- AU$2.3M acquisition of Serenade*
- AU$1M acquisition of Mediaweek*
- AU$2.5M acquisition of Funkified*
- Acquisition of Vampr (under former name Jaxsta)
- Launch of Vinyl.com
- SESAC:
- Acquisition of Haawk*
- Acquisition of AudioSalad
- Kakao:
- Acquisition of SM Entertainment*
- Investment in Naivy*
- Hellman & Friedman’s majority stake in Global Music Rights*
- Blackstone’s acquisition of Hipgnosis*
- Sixth Street Growth’s investment in atVenu*
- EQT and TCV’s co-ownership of Believe*
- Apollo’s financing of Sony Music Group*
- TPG’s investment in Musixmatch
*Asterisked deals were announced or closed in 2024.