WMG & Bain Capital Partner for $1.2B Music War Chest
Last week, Warner Music Group and Bain Capital teamed up on a $1.2B joint venture to invest in Hollywood's most iconic music catalogs - from recorded music to publishing rights. This investing concept isn't entirely new: David Bowie famously issued "Bowie Bonds" in 1997, raising $55M by securitizing future royalties from his songs. Fast forward nearly three decades, and major private equity firms, record labels, music publishers, and specialized investment funds are now pouring billions of institutional capital into the $29.6B music rights industry - including Sony’s staggering ~$1.3B acquisition of Queen's catalog and Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis buying Bieber's catalog for $200M - underscoring how intense the battle for music rights has become.
Before we break down the numbers behind WMG/Bain's JV and their odds of success, let's answer the question everyone's asking: how do investors monetize music rights in the first place?
Royalties are just bonds, but better.
The thesis behind buying a music catalog is simple: steady cash flows from royalties. Think bonds - but with an asset class that isn’t sensitive to interest rates and whose value rarely fluctuates with market swings. Here are the three main factors investors care about when scooping up music catalogs:
Predictable Cash Flows (The PE Special): Music catalogs offer investors reliable royalty payments - recurring revenue every time someone hits play on Spotify or turns on the radio. The upside is protected: the music industry is renowned for being recession-proof. Why? Because music is relatively inexpensive, and its emotional pull keeps people listening even when wallets tighten.
Multiple Monetization Methods (Things Bonds Don’t Have): There are more ways than ever to monetize music catalogs, especially iconic ones
Streaming: Revenue per stream might seem tiny - Spotify pays ~$0.003–$0.005 per stream - but scale is everything. The Beatles, for example, pull in an estimated 22B streams a year, generating ~$88 million in revenue, or a ~6% yield on a $1.5B asset from streaming alone.
Licensing: Owners can license songs for blockbuster films, hit TV shows, video games, and commercials - often earning $1M+ per contract.
Social Media: So many iconic songs re-popularized from TikTok and Instagram reels (e.g. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Murder on the Dance Floor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor). Catalog owners can partner with platforms and launch strategic campaigns to steer viewers to press “download”.
Catalog Revivals: Strategic re-releases, remixes, and covers breathe new life into classic tracks, reinvigorating old fans while drawing in new generations.
Premium Assets Sell at Premium Valuations (Think Sports Franchises): Just like NFL or NBA teams, premier music catalogs rarely come up for sale, driving fierce competition among investors. For context: in the last 25 years, music assets traded at 8-12x net publisher’s share (royalty revenue net of payouts to performers). Today, they’re selling for 25-30x multiples. When marquee catalogs like Queen, Bob Dylan, or Dr. Dre hit the market, bidding wars push valuations even higher, letting sellers cash out at record prices.
WMG and Bain are positioning themselves to capture this value - and their new joint venture might just make them the powerhouse in the catalog acquisition game.
WMG / Bain’s Music Joint Venture
WMG and Bain’s $1.2B joint venture, coined as Beethoven JV 1 LLC, structured with $500M in equity (split 50/50 between Bain & WMG) and up to $700M debt issued by Goldman Sachs and Fifth Third Bank, is a page straight from the classic private equity playbook - leveraging debt to stretch buying power while amplifying returns. With average catalog valuations ranging from $100-$300M, Beethoven JV can snatch up 6-10x iconic music assets from the get-go.
What truly sets this JV apart from pure music catalog investment funds is WMG’s global infrastructure. With operations in 70+ countries, deep sync licensing relationships, and a proven track record integrating catalogs like David Bowie’s and Tempo Music Investments, WMG can successfully pull every monetization lever in the book: strategic re-releases, premium sync deals, TikTok revivals, and targeted global marketing campaigns that breathe new life (and revenue) into timeless tracks.
In a world where ~73% of US music consumption comes from catalog music (anything released over 18 months before consumers press play), WMG and Bain aren’t just buying music - they’re buying predictable, scalable cash flows they know how to supercharge.
Their first acquisition will set the tone…
And they’re already eyeing Red Hot Chili Peppers $350M master catalog.
Stay tuned.
Sports-Tech Market Activity: Investors & Deals
Venture Capital
Fantasy Life, Matthew Berry’s fantasy sports multimedia content platform, raises $7M for Guillotine League expansion (July 7th)
Shifting from media to tech platform, with 25 employees and over 500K newsletter subscribers
Investment led by LeBron’s LRMR Ventures and SC Holdings; other investors include Eberg Capital, RedBird Capital, and Blitzer’s family office, among others [Sportico]
Padel Haus, a US-based luxury padel club operator, raises $7M in Series B funding to triple national footprint (July 9th)
Targets 120 courts by 2027, alongside 20+ wholly owned locations
Investment backed by Bolt Ventures, Vanquish Equity, Mario Gabelli, and pro athletes across NFL, MLS, and NHL, among others [Athletech]
Movetru, a sports tracking startup developing wearables that target biomechanical insights, raises $1.6M in Pre-Seed funding, launches product (July 8th)
Plans future US expansion, doubling staff, and commercializing solutions for soccer, basketball, and ice hockey
Investment led by Two Magnolias; other investors include IAG Capital Partners and ForceDecks co-founder Phil Graham-Smith, among others [SBJ]
Neutonic, an influencer-backed beverage brand geared towards productivity via brain-boosting energy drinks, raises $3.7M in funding (July 8th)
Circle Games, a mobile gaming studio specializing in user-centered casual puzzle titles, raises $7.25M in funding to scale ‘Sort Express’ (July 9th)
Funds to expand global reach of first title and grow current 12-person team
Investment led by BITKRAFT; other investors include a16z Speedrun and Play Ventures, among others [GamesBeat]
M&A and Investments
World Bank’s IFC and French finance institution Proparco commit $50M equity investment into Helios Sports & Entertainment to stimulate Africa’s sports, media, and entertainment industry (July 9th)
IFC commits up to $30M, Proparco up to $20M, to scale capacity building and upskilling
Funding targets event management, sports IP rights, infrastructure, and hospitality across a largely underfunded African sports & entertainment sector [IFC]
Apple reportedly offers annual bid of $150M-$200M for F1 US media rights (July 10th)
Annual offer exceeds ESPN’s current $85M-$90M deal by over 2x; sources claim ESPN may struggle to match, relying instead on broader reach and marketing value [SBJ]
FaceGym, a facial fitness company offering non-invasive, high-intensity face workouts, receives minority investment to scale across India (July 4th)
Expansion comprised of standalone locations and premium placements in select Tira stores
Investment backed by Indian retail company Reliance Retail; to roll out FaceGym studios in major Indian cities over five years [Athletech]
Flutter Ent. to acquire final 5% of FanDuel from gaming and casino operator Boyd Gaming in $1.76B deal, valuing it at $31B (July 10th)
Pending approval, expected to close Q3 2025; Flutter to pay $1.55B for remaining stake, plus $205M in revised commercial terms
Transaction gives Flutter full control of FanDuel; Boyd to keep market-access fees and mobile/retail sportsbook agreements through 2038 [Sportico]
Spindrift, a beverage brand specializing in sparkling water made with real fruit juice, receives funding from athlete investors via Patricof Co. (July 10th)
Follows Gryphon Investors’ majority stake acquisition in January for $650M
New athlete investors include Kevin Durant, Livvy Dunne, and Maarten Paes, among others, investing through pro athlete investment platform [Sportico]
Photo Creds: Matthew Berry’s Fantasy Life raises $7M for Guillotine Leagues.
Strategic Ventures
Pickleball Inc. partners with racket sports ELC and player tracking company PlayReplay in global deal to bring AI officiating and analytics to pickleball (July 7th)
Tech will scale from pro tours to public courts, offering performance tracking and officiating tools to all levels [Pickleball.com]
The Soccer Tournament (TST), a 7v7 startup league, lands deal with US Soccer for four-year media and sponsorship rights (July 8th)
Agreement includes commercial rights for the $1M winner-take-all tournament
TST drew 51K+ fans in June, featuring clubs from Premier League, LaLiga, and Bundesliga [Sportico]
Genies, a gaming UGC tool suite company, partners with game engine platform Unity to launch AI avatar tools and UGC frameworks for developers (July 10th)
Partnership allows use of licensed IP, avatar persistence across games, and real-time UGC via Genies’ Smart Avatar tech
Follows Genies’ $150M raise in 2022; investors include Bob Iger, Silver Lake, and BOND, among others [GamesBeat]
Monumental Sports and live video distribution platform ViewLift launch media venture to support pro teams with local rights control (July 9th)
Aims to help teams reclaim local media rights, following MSE's transformation of NBC Sports Washington
ViewLift already partners with 16 teams; joint platform positioned as an alternative to league-run models [Monumental]
Premier League taps Adobe as ‘official digital fan experience partner’ to launch AI fan content tools and personalization engine (July 10th)
Integrating Firefly Gen AI and Express into league platforms to drive social media engagement
Premier League gains access to Adobe’s data-driven marketing suite for tailored, location-aware fan messaging [SportsPro]
Job Board & Opportunities: Week of July 11th
Here are some cool roles we found and personally curated this week - enjoy!