Many can testify that acquisitions of music catalogues have been the talk of the music industry in recent years. While these property exchanges have always occurred in the music industry, major capital players have recently become very interested in them.
Multi-million dollar deals have created significant momentum, and music catalogue valuations are continually increasing, largely due to the ever-expanding streaming economy. However, all these developments beg the question, “What is a music catalogue?”
In this piece, we’ll explore the concept of music catalogues, their unique applications in the music business, and their immense benefits for music artists.
What Are Music Catalogues?
A music catalogue is an assortment of musical recordings that are under the ownership of a record label, music publishing house, or artiste. It contains every song that a performer has ever released under their own name or through a label, as well as any associated intellectual property like lyrics and melodies.
Record labels and musicians can benefit greatly from access to music catalogues. They can be used as collateral for loans and other financial transactions, bringing in a sizable amount of money through royalties and licencing agreements.
Some people may be the sole owners of the rights to the music they have composed and published, although this is a rather uncommon circumstance in the current music industry. The parties collaborating to create the musical pieces typically split the song copyrights.
In addition to the performing artist or band, publishers, record labels, managers, musicians, beatmakers, songwriters, and other stakeholders frequently receive a split share of the rights and can include them in their portfolios. This implies that a single song may appear in several distinct music catalogues and, as a result, may get varying royalties.
Music Catalogues In The Music Business: Why Investors Are Interested
In addition to the sentimental attachment that listeners may have to certain tracks, music catalogues offer other benefits to investors.
- Recently, investors seeking to diversify their portfolios with non-traditional asset classes have begun to pay more attention to music catalogues, especially those with a proven track record of delivering steady royalty income flows.
- Due to the royalties it generates, music is not only an asset that is uncorrelated with financial markets and is therefore unaffected by the changes that more conventional financial assets may encounter, but it also has a periodic cash flow.
- Standalone songs are rarely a good investment because they are highly erratic and dependent on the success of the song and the person who wrote it. On the other hand, a music catalogue distributes that risk among numerous songs, each generating its own royalty income stream.
- You can diversify even more by having record catalogues featuring various artists or bands. Apart from their lack of correlation with conventional financial markets, music catalogues with a track record of success also tend to perform steadily; industry norms for valuation suggest that net yearly returns might range from 5% to 16%.
Music is always changing and expanding, as seen by the rise of social media and premium streaming services. This can only imply that, in the short and long term, music and the royalties it earns can develop into a wise and reliable financial asset class that can produce income more consistently than most traditional financial assets.
But one thing that anyone should never overlook is a music catalogue that needs proper management and has all royalty income streams well tracked, even if it contains the most well-known tunes. That’s where Royalti.io comes in. You have to ensure you’re earning the most out of your song in terms of royalties.
With the help of our platform for managing music royalties, you can track how much your catalogue earns over a period and accurately evaluate/project its future worth.
