Catalogue Acquisitions: Who Wins?

The history of music is marked by disruptions and changes that are often foisted upon the music industries by outside entities, which in time become embraced as part of those music industries. The buying and selling of music catalogues is not new, but recent years have seen investors chase musical works with an unprecedented vigour; in 2021, $12 billion was spent acquiring and investing in music catalogues. Music rights are big business and have proven to be a sound (pardon the pun) investment. High-profile artists such as Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, and Neil Young have recently sold off their catalogues for millions of dollars. Music rights have become an asset class attracting large-scale investment from corporate entities outside of the music industries, but it is an area that has received little academic attention; what are the long-term consequences of catalogue acquisition? This chapter analyses catalogue acquisitions within the broader history of music industries, unpacks the values attributed to different music rights, considers how this productisation of music can shape broader movements in the music industries, and perhaps most importantly, how large-scale investments affects artists at all levels. We look at three key issues: First, the implications of artists yielding control over their catalogues to investors, and the subsequent privileging of revenue over artistic integrity. Second, the effect of major catalogue sales, by 1 percent of artists, on the remaining 99 percent of artists. Both Spotify and Apple cite catalogue purchases as a reason for the US Copyright Royalty Board to set streaming royalties to the lowest rate in history. Third, the relationship between music datafication and its status as an asset class. We explore how AI is used to discover hits and maximise revenue from music.