Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner, WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries. It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming a public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 4,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.
TVT Records, originally Tee-Vee Toons, was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb in 1984. Initially created to release the Television's Greatest Hits series of classic TV theme tune compilations, the label would expand into rap, industrial rock, and electronic music amassing 25 Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum albums over the course of its 24-year history.
Sony Music Publishing (US) LLC is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned by Sony Entertainment. The company was formed as Sony/ATV in 1995 by the merger of the original incarnation of Sony Music Publishing and ATV Music, which was owned by late entertainer Michael Jackson. Jackson had purchased ATV Music, which included the Lennon–McCartney song catalog, in 1985.
A celebrity bond is commercial debt security issued by a holder of fame-based intellectual property rights to receive money upfront from investors on behalf of the bond issuer and their celebrity clients in exchange for assigning investors the right to collect future royalty monies to the works covered by the intellectual property rights listed in the bond. Typically backed by music properties, the investment vehicle was pioneered in 1997 by rock and roll investment banker David Pullman through his $55 million David Bowie bond deal.
Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalog consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 150,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries.
Downtown Music Holdings is an independent rights management and music services company based in the US State of New York. It comprises 10 businesses. All divisions live under the Downtown Music Holdings umbrella and are split between two verticals, Creator and Business.
EMI Music Publishing Ltd. is a British multinational music publishing company headquartered in London, owned by Sony Group Corporation.
Techstars is a pre-seed investor that provides access to capital, mentorship, and other support for early-stage entrepreneurs. It was founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. As of January 2024, the company had accepted over 4,100 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization of $106bn USD. Techstars operates accelerator programs in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
Primary Wave is a privately held music publishing and talent management company. Primary Wave was founded in January 2006 by music executive Lawrence Mestel. Since its origin as a music publishing and administration company, Primary Wave has expanded into talent management, film and TV production, digital marketing, and branding. Primary Wave owns a significant song catalog, with major acquisitions beginning in 2016, including several hundred #1 hits.
Robert S. Wiesenthal is an American businessman.
A royalty fund is a category of private equity fund that specializes in purchasing consistent revenue streams deriving from the payment of royalties. One growing subset of this category is the healthcare royalty fund, in which a private equity fund manager purchases a royalty stream paid by a pharmaceutical company to a patent holder. The patent holder can be another company, an individual inventor, or some sort of institution, such as a research university.
Mark and Jeff Bass, known professionally as the Bass Brothers are an American record producer brother duo. They were responsible for helping Eminem with the creation of Infinite. Before that, they worked with George Clinton. Tracks from those sessions ended up on the P-Funk All Stars album Dope Dogs. Jeff Bass is considered one of the most influential people in Eminem's career. On their work with Eminem, Mark and Jeff Bass are credited as F.B.T. Productions.
Axis Direct is the flagship brand under Axis Securities Limited, a subsidiary of Axis Bank in India. Providing Demat and Trading services. Its main offices are in Mumbai. The company employs over 2,100 people.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded. Initially pitched as a new class of investment asset, by September 2023, one report claimed that over 95% of NFT collections had zero monetary value.
StockX is an online marketplace and clothing reseller, primarily of sneakers. Since November 2020, it has also opened up to electronic products such as game consoles, smartphones and computer hardware. The Detroit-based company was founded by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, Greg Schwartz, and Chris Kaufman in 2015–2016. StockX has more than 800 employees in Downtown Detroit. StockX currently has international offices in London, UK, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and has authentication facilities in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, Moonachie, NJ, and Tempe, AZ. Scott Cutler and Schwartz serve as chief executive officer and chief operating officer, respectively, and Deena Bahri became the company's first chief marketing officer in 2019.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited is a British Guernsey-registered music IP investment and song management company founded by Merck Mercuriadis and Nile Rodgers in 2018. Focused on songs and associated musical intellectual property rights, it was founded on the premise that hit songs are long-term predictable assets unaffected by economic cycles that will increase in value as the worldwide music streaming market grows. In addition to acquiring songs and songwriter catalogues, the company manages the playlist, cover, interpolation, and synchronization revenues of its IP.
The Bicycle Music Company was a music publishing company founded independently, and after growing for a number of years was merged with Concord Music Group in 2015. As of 2010, it owned or administered over 12,000 works from songwriters.
SongVest is an American company that operates an online platform for buying and selling music royalties and other royalty assets. It provides a centralized online marketplace where royalty owners can sell their future payments to investors.
Royal (Royal.io) is a US-based platform that sells music rights as limited digital assets. It was founded by Opendoor co-founder JD Ross and DJ and electronic music producer Justin "3lau" Blau It is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
PPX Enterprises, Inc. is the umbrella organization for various PPX entities which includes P.P.X. and PPX Productions. The label, like its Founder Ed Chalpin is quite likely remembered for its dealings Jimi Hendrix and cover versions.
