Michaelangelo Matos / Rolling Stone:
Some of the biggest music deals in recent years have involved songwriting catalogs, from Bob Dylan in 2020 to Justin Bieber in 2025 to Pete Townshend this spring, many fetching nine-figure buyouts. Most of these have come from private-equity firms looking for reliable investments.
But independent labels and artists are fast becoming the focus for a number of recently minted investment firms — companies, and catalogs, of seemingly every size. And one label owner, Aaron Schultz of the boutique soul-funk imprint Bastard Jazz Recordings, says the moves are “threatening for the entire indie-music ecosystem.”
End-stage capitalism comes for us all. Shout out to the labels who are fighting against this tide. What a racket.