Who Really Owns the Music Industry?

Today, I’m reflecting on what it would truly take for creatives to gain ownership and control in this industry. Over the years, I’ve worked across tech startups, Web3, crypto, private equity, and the music business - each offering different strategies, power structures, and playbooks. This isn’t advice, a blueprint, or an endorsement, just a stream of thoughts meant to spark conversation around a topic that’s too often ignored: the real levers of power in music.

Equity is Power and Control 

In 2021, a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) called ConstitutionDAO raised over $47 million in under a week to buy a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution. They lost the auction. But it showed something: when a group of people pool resources, they can challenge the status quo.

Another DAO - pleasrDAO - bought the Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-a-kind album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin from the U.S. government after it was seized from Martin Shkreli. Again, collective power in action, a decentralized group with no central leadership, united by blockchain and a mission.

Now imagine that kind of collective effort aimed at the music industry. Not to disrupt it, but to own it.

Who Actually Owns the Music Industry?

Let’s be clear: power in the music business comes down to two things:

1. Platforms
2. Catalogs

Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, YouTube, Tencent - these platforms dominate how music is heard. But here’s the thing: they’re only valuable because of the catalogs.

The biggest owners of music catalogs are major record companies. And guess what, they also own chunks of these platforms.

Let’s break it down:

The Equity Web: Who Owns What?

Universal Music Group (UMG) - Equity Stakes: 

• Spotify: 9%

• SoundCloud: 3–5%

• Tencent: 20%

Warner Music Group (WMG) - Equity Stakes:

• Spotify: 2.85%

• Deezer: 4%

• SoundCloud: 3–5%

• Parent Company Access Industries:

  • Owns 36% of Deezer

  • Holds an undisclosed equity stake in Spotify via Access Technology Ventures

Tencent Holdings:

• UMG: 20%

• WMG: 1.6%

• Spotify: 10% (with Spotify owning a reciprocal 16.5% stake in Tencent Music)

The deeper you go, the more it looks like a corporate orgy where everyone owns a piece of everyone else. Publicly traded companies must disclose their interests. Private equity doesn’t. That means companies can have massive influence that far exceeds what you see here - all with zero public accountability.

The Only Line That Matters

These platforms don’t serve artists. They serve the line - the stock price. Layoffs, pay cuts, algorithmic suppression, anything that boosts investor returns gets celebrated. In 2023, Spotify laid off over 2,000 employees, and its stock jumped. That’s not a glitch. That’s the system working exactly as designed.

A creator's well-being only matters when it makes the line go up.

We Don’t Own the Real Estate

Every stream, every follower, every video - it’s all hosted on platforms we don’t control, don’t profit from beyond a trickle, and don’t influence because we have no equity. Power in music means ownership: Own the catalogs. Own the platform. Or partner with people who do. Record companies leverage their ownership of one asset, their catalogs, to get equity in another - DSPs. Equity is power and control. That’s why Tencent buys chunks of UMG. That’s why Spotify doesn’t just stream music - it strategically invests in rights and rivals. As artists and music fans, we don’t need to wait for a record company to give us power. We can form collectives, invest in startups, buy catalogs, and own a stake in the platforms we fuel with our content and culture. DAOs might be clunky today, but they represent a new kind of future, one where ownership can be distributed and is worth exploring.

The real music business is just finance in disguise.

I’ll be exploring the concept of collectives functioning as investment groups, DAOs, how to get started in private equity, and highlighting opportunities to buy into music catalogs through new platforms and technologies. If this isn’t something you want delivered to your inbox, do nothing, and it won’t be. If this is, join by clicking Subscribe to be added to the new group.

In other news

Sometimes I go through Subscribers, and if somebody has an email that ends with a website domain, I’ll check them out. This week, I discovered Scribbles WHO, and I think the music is well worth a listen.

Check out our analysis of Funding options for music businesses: https://payusnomind.info/blog/funding 

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