‘We’re seeing some of the biggest deals the music industry has ever seen,’ says Reed Smith’s Josh Love

Investing in music royalties and copyrights became red hot during the early days of the covid pandemic when the live performance market shut down, and legacy recording artists sold their catalogs to strategics or private equity firms to generate revenue. Since then, investor appetite for music intellectual property has remained steady even as live events pick up.

Josh Love, a partner in law firm Reed Smith’s global entertainment and media industry group, has advised on some of the best-known music deals. Throughout his career, Love has negotiated and closed more than $4 billion in purchases and sales of recorded music and music publishing assets.

Among the high-profile deals the Los Angeles-based Love has worked on are The Weeknd’s $1 billion joint venture with Lyric Capital, inked in late 2025; and Great Mountain Partners and Apollo Global Management-backed music company Concord’s agreement to merge with rival firm BMG, announced in April 2026 and expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Love, who joined Reed Smith nearly 10 years ago, was also on the team that represented CVC Capital Partners in its agreement to make a majority investment in DistroKid, a New York City-based music distributor, announced earlier in July.

Recently, Love offered his insights on music investment deals to PE Hub, weighing in on topics ranging from current trends to how the industry is navigating AI.

What are some notable developments you are seeing taking shape this year in the music space?

It’s an exceptionally active market. We’re seeing some of the biggest deals the music industry has ever seen this year. Concord/BMG is one example. There’s also a maturation of the market. Funds that were built over the last several years are now beginning to trade assets or bring in secondary investors, which I think is a sign of a healthy and increasingly sophisticated market.

You’re also seeing all of the [major music companies] aligned with financial partners. A few years ago, the majors weren’t really competing in the space, while a number of financial buyers were building portfolios. Today, the majors are players in a meaningful way, often with access to different sources of capital and partnership structures that allow them to compete much more aggressively.

Not everybody who has gotten into this space is sticking around. Some investors dipped their toes in and decided it wasn’t for them. Others are doubling down. At the same time, given the increased competition for dealflow, we see the net being cast much wider than ever before. There are buyers pursuing iconic catalogs, others focused on lower middle-market opportunities, and others targeting small deals that wouldn’t have traded in the past. Everybody has a different investment thesis.

Some sources say the music market is skewing toward smaller deals where the focus is on lesser-known or regional artists. Are you seeing this play out?

The market is very diverse. A lot of buyers want big deals, but there simply aren’t that many to go around. I don’t think buyers are shying away from those opportunities at all. When a high-profile catalog comes to market, there is very robust competition.

There’s just more available in the lower-middle market and middle market than at the very top of the market, so naturally you see a larger volume of transactions there.

No two buyers are built the same way. We have clients who exclusively focus on large, iconic catalogs where they believe they can create value and do much more than simply collect royalty checks. Others have very different investment strategies. We’re really seeing all of the above.

Lately, more private equity firms, like Bain Capital, are partnering up with traditional music labels or distribution platforms to launch joint ventures. Why are they teaming up rather than just buying catalogs on their own?

These partnerships are highly complementary. For the music companies, partnering with financial sponsors provides access to different sources of capital and a different return profile, while often allowing them to continue administering the assets and maintaining important relationships with artists and songwriters. It also allows them to remain competitive in acquiring rights and continue growing the assets they have under management.

For the financial partner, there are a lot of benefits to partnering with established music companies. They have decades of relationships throughout the industry and the operational expertise that is very difficult to replicate. One of the biggest challenges for any buyer isn’t just underwriting an asset; it’s sourcing opportunities before everyone else does. The labels know people, have boots on the ground and have some of the deepest networks in the business.

They also know how to maximize the value of a catalog over time. Whether it’s licensing opportunities, supporting new releases or capitalizing when a song suddenly experiences renewed cultural relevance through TikTok or otherwise, a label partner has the infrastructure and experience to help drive that value.

How is AI factoring into the equation? Is it being seen as a positive or a negative in the music industry?

It’s both. One of the challenges of the music business is that it’s an extraordinarily data-intensive industry. Every royalty involves countless micro-transactions across multiple rights, territories, and platforms. AI has enormous potential to improve administration, metadata management, royalty processing and licensing efficiency. There’s a lot of excitement around using AI to reduce leakage and make the overall ecosystem more efficient.

On the generative AI side, you’re seeing the major music companies actively working through both legal and commercial issues. They’re obviously focused on protecting intellectual property, but they’re also exploring licensing models and partnerships with AI companies.

I think the industry learned important lessons from prior technological shifts. Rather than simply resisting new technology, there’s a strong desire to develop sustainable business models that appropriately compensate rights holders while allowing innovation to continue. The companies that can successfully balance those two objectives will likely be best positioned going forward.

Editor’s note: This story is part of PE Hub’s ongoing series of Q&As with PE thought leaders. For more, see: