Ten Big Music Industry Deals In 2025

In the year 2025, the global music industry thrived in the top end of tours, festivals and concerts, while the dominant streaming services allowed more indie acts to monetise their work.

While music genres cross-pollinated more than ever, so did the industry players, coming up with new models and striking groundbreaking deals to change their playing fields.

Here are ten of them, in Australia and abroad.

Taylor Swift Gets Back Six Masters

Not content with smashing every tour, streaming, and chart achievement going, Taylor Swift was also giving a business masterclass to artists.

She regained ownership of the masters of her first six albums, “My greatest dream come true,” she said. 

Of course, it helped that she had financial clout, such as her multi-million-dollar share of the $2 billion in ticket sales from the Eras world tour ($35 million from Australia).

Last week (Dec. 10), when popping up on US TV’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert – also screened in Australia – she revealed, “That’s how I spent that Eras Tour money. My fans are why I was able to get my music back.”

In 2005, the 15-year-old inked a record deal with Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Records that gave the label ownership of her masters. 

In 2019, entrepreneur Scooter Braun bought Big Machine for $330 million, getting the six masters. A year later, he sold them to the Disney family’s private equity firm, Shamrock Holdings. 

Swift was upset that she had not been given the opportunity to buy her masters and called Braun an “incessant, manipulative bully”. 

Borchetta insisted the singer had been offered her masters but had not taken them up. Swift’s version of this is that the deal was that she’d get a master back for every new album she delivered to Big Machine.

At the time, it was estimated she was getting a 10% to 15% royalty from Big Machine, while her deal with Republic/Universal was 50% and owned all her albums from 2019’s Lover onward.

Between 2021 and 2023, Swift re-recorded four albums, retaining the masters of the new recordings. They became hits again, and two tracks, All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (2021) and Is It Over Now? (2023) topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Swift again approached Shamrock Holdings, which this year sold it back to her. The price was not disclosed. But it means the total control allows her to expand her empire, whether into movies, new products and endorsements.

It was hailed as a watershed for musicians flexing their rights and owning their art.

Australia’s Pete Murray was one who took a similar step. In April, he released a new version of Better Days (Pete’s Version) after changing his business model to become an independent artist, rather than being signed to a label.

“Taylor did it, and I was thinking, ‘Wow, that’s how you do it,'” Murray said.

Warner Music Launches $1.2 Billion Fund To Jump On Catalogue Bandwagon

With high stakes in the A-List catalogues as Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young (Sony picked up Queen’s for $1 billion), Warner Music Group moved in with strength.

It teamed with private investment giant Bain Capital in a $1.2 billion joint venture to acquire “legendary” music catalogues across both recorded music and music publishing. 

WMG manages all aspects of marketing, distribution and administration. Bain, with $185 billion in assets, offers its global resources and financial capabilities.

Providing reassurance to stars and their fans of new lucrative projects was Warner’s more equitable revenue-sharing offerings and pioneering AI licensing agreements with companies like Suno and Udio, including to develop fingerprinting and attribution technology similar to YouTube’s content ID.

Warner slashed staff numbers globally to save $300 million.

First off the rank: $300 million for the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalogue, which had been quietly on the market since 2021.

Slipknot Partly Sells Catalogue, Opens Door For Metal Millions

Slipknot sold a majority stake in its catalogue, including publishing and recording royalties, to HarbourView Equity Partners for a reported US$120 million.

“After 25 years of taking on the music business, we find ourselves with a partner that is willing to sign onto continuing what Slipknot started,” Shawn “Clown” Crahan said. “Only they want to go even bigger. Get ready. Hail The Knot.”

The Slipknot deal was at odds with other A-listers in that they were not considered a household name. But as The Music explained, the $120 million was revolved as much around the intense loyalty of its Maggots fan base.

Billboard estimated that Slipknot generates $15.5 million in annual revenue, with an additional $5.2 million from publishing royalties.

Also, a deep dive into their streaming numbers showed that Maggots streamed a wide range of Slipknot tracks, not just the hits.

HarbourView founder Sherrese Clarke said, “Their catalogue is a testament to their influence, passion, and enduring artistry within the genre. We pride ourselves on having our finger on the pulse of culture, and with thorough analysis of audience engagement, we clearly see the cultural impact of Slipknot from the 1990s to present. 

“The enduring and relevant proof points with Slipknot remain core to our investing thesis, and HarbourView is honored to help preserve and amplify the group’s work for decades and generations to come.”

The money could see a Slipknot movie, or a more magnificent production at their shows.

Warner / Suno Delve Into AI Possibilities

A year ago, Warner Music Group (WMG), along with Sony and Universal, were suing the pants off AI (Artificial Intelligence) generators Suno and Udio for copyright infringement of their artists, describing it as “wholesale theft”.

But by spring, Warner Music and Suno had teamed up to create a joint venture “committed to forging a blueprint for a next-generation licensed AI music platform”.

The deal saw Suno come under strict rules. But artists and writers who had railed against AI undermining their careers felt betrayed.

Warner said the “first-of-its-kind partnership” will open “new frontiers” in music creation while ensuring the creative community is compensated. 

“With Suno rapidly scaling, both in users and monetisation, we’ve seized this opportunity to shape models that expand the revenue and deliver new fan experiences,” said Robert Kyncl, WMG CEO.

WMG stressed that artists and songwriters who join the platform have full control over how their names, images, likenesses, voices and compositions are used in new AI-generated music.”

The two-year-old Massachusetts-based firm has 100 million users and is valued at $2.45 billion.

From early 2026, Suno will introduce new advanced and licensed models, which will allow users to create music based on simple descriptions delivered via text. 

Paid tier users face limited download caps with the ability to pay for more downloads. Songs on Suno’s free tier can still be played and shared.

It also acquired WMG’s concert discovery platform Songkick. It will continue to run as “a successful fan destination” but “create new potential to deepen the artist-fan connection”.

Virgin Music Starts To Acquires Downtown 

Last December, Virgin Music Group – owned by Universal Music Group – announced a deal to buy Downtown Music Group for $775 million. 

This was pending regulatory approvals and set to go through by the second half of 2025.

Downtown was set up in 2007 in New York by Justin Kalifowitz as a music publisher.

But he quickly sussed that technology would help him provide creators with managing their skills as a business and getting paid properly during all stages of their careers.

Downtown reimagined itself as a 21st-century music company, expanding to artist and label services, distribution, royalty and financial services. Its business includes FUGA, Curve Royalties, CD Baby and Songtrust.

The 50 million songs are represented across 145 countries, further getting access to digital distribution, streaming, rights management and analytics; and sync and licensing for film, television and user-generated content. Downtown’s clients had nearly 150 nominations for the 2025 Grammys.

There was a great demand for its offerings. Downtown is set up in 20 global cities, including Sydney, Paris, Singapore, Milan, Delhi, Rome, São Paulo, Seoul and Tokyo.

The Virgin deal offered indie creators a wider global reach by incorporating Downtown’s services and technology into its own platform.

For Kalifowitz, it was “a tremendous recognition of the importance and vitality of independent music.”

But the acquisition has been delayed. In November, Europe’s competition watchdog, the European Commission, announced it was planning to investigate the deal for possible “competition issues”.

Indie music organisations have protested the Virgin/Downtown deal going through. In July, a letter signed by 200 people, including those from Beggars Group and Secretly Group, objected. 

A “100 Voices” campaign by 100 indie music execs from 20 countries asked the European Commission to block the deal, citing how the deal was a threat to their businesses.

Impressed Enters JV For Physical Distribution

While more Australians consume music both digitally and physically, the local biz worked at filling a vacuum in this thriving latter market.

Impressed Recordings and the artist management company ie:east went into a joint venture to set up a new physical distribution company, Circle Distribution.

Its mission: get vinyl releases by indie artists and labels into retail stores in Australia and internationally.

According to an ARIA report in March 2025, vinyl represented 72.8% of total physical sales in 2024 by dollar value (up 5.6%) and 45.7% of physical sales by volume.

Circle Distribution came into being because there was still a limited choice to release on vinyl.

Andre Calman, one of its directors, explained, “It felt like the exact reverse of where distribution was at fifteen years ago, when there was so much competition to sign and release vinyl and CDs, while people were just figuring out what digital music was and how it could be viable.”

The idea for the company came when Calman worked on releases by one of his management clients, R&B singer Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos, Lanu), with his label, Impressed Recordings, founded by Luke Bevans.

It made sense to expand such operations with Circle Distribution.

For Bevans, “Working with ie:east and Andre felt like a natural next step for Impressed. We are fortunate now that we have full control of our D2C customer experience with warehouse space to pick, pack and send great music around the world.

“Then, the experience of buying and selling music into retail in Australia was something I’ve been passionate about for a long time – trying to make sure that stores and record buyers could get as much incredible music on time, in great condition, is something that I’m passionate about as a record buyer myself.”

Setting up in late 2023, Impressed opened a brick-and-mortar store in Sydney five months later, and entered a physical distribution deal with UK company Republic of Music.

Vinyl Group Closes Jaxta, Changes Rolling Stone Dates

After an EBITDA loss in FY2025 and a declaration to investors in October to increase revenue in FY2026 to $25 million, Vinyl Group made strategic changes.

There were staff redundancies and reshuffles to promote growth.

Music database Jaxsta went dark on December 17, two years after it came into the company. 

Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons explained, “Over the past year, we’ve worked hard to build a sustainable business by reducing infrastructure costs, refining the platform, and doing everything we could to lower the costs with key data partners to allow the service to keep running.

“Despite these efforts, the current model does not scale, which means we can no longer offer the service in a viable way.”

The quarterly print version of Rolling Stone Australia/New Zealand, licensed from US-based Penske Media Corporation, was moved to “a more flexible timeline,” although subscribers were told they would still receive four magazines a year to “better reflect our long-term vision.”

Live Nation Expands Music Hall Brand To Perth

This year, Live Nation Australia and New Zealand topped Pollstar’s list of Australian promoters with a gross of US $312,166,481 and ticket sales of 2.7 million.

It fuelled growth and acquisitions in both countries. Mid-year, Live Nation announced it was expanding its 3,000-capacity Music Hall brand to Perth in addition to Brisbane and Adelaide.

It already had venues in Melbourne (Festival Hall and Palais Theatre), Perth (Kings Park) and Wollongong, NSW (Anita’s Theatre).

Northbridge Music Hall at 77 Francis St will be custom-built for live music, comedy and theatre. A main room and a smaller band room will be equipped with state-of-the-art staging and production, and host Aussie and global acts.

It is set to open in the summer of 2026/7, providing 70 jobs and a “positive economic impact for local businesses, hospitality, and the live music scene in Perth.”

While some in the local music industry express concern about LN’s dominance in the market, its chairman, Michael Coppel, told this writer that it uses its clout to attract acts to the venues.

“We’re really focused on giving people great places to go, and artists great places where they can expose themselves,” he said. 

“It’s not just for international acts. This year, Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane) will have a million people go through that venue, and 60% of them will have seen local artists.

“That’s part of the game plan. Make venues the right size and keep audiences and artists coming back.”

There are plans to expand the Music Hall brand to Sydney and Melbourne, and set up an arena in the heart of Brisbane.

UK Moves To Outlaw Ticket Scalpers

With scalpers costing UK event-goers an additional £145 million (AU$291.59 million) a year, and about one in five event tickets sold in the UK ending up on a resale platform, the Government last month flagged plans for legislation to ban the resale of tickets to sports and entertainment above their original price.

It would, the Government said, save UK music fans £112 million ($225.5 million) a year, increase the number of tickets sold on the primary market by around 900,000, and reduce the average ticket price, inclusive of fees, by around £37 ($74.50).

The legislation also caps service fees charged by resale platforms to prevent the price limit from being undermined, while resale platforms will have a legal duty to monitor and enforce compliance with the price cap.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “For too long, ticket touts have ripped off fans, using bots to snap up batches of tickets and resell them at sky-high prices. They’ve become a shadow industry on resale sites, acting without consequence.

“This government is putting fans first. Our new proposals will shut down the touts’ racket and make world-class music, comedy, theatre and sport affordable for everyone.”

The Government’s announcement on the new ticketing rules did not address the issue of dynamic or tiered pricing, but it is aware of the problem and is waiting for more evidence.

Mushroom Music Global Spread With Sub-Publishing Agreement With Peermusic

Songwriters and composers on the roster of Mushroom Music, the publishing arm of Mushroom Group, are set for more revenue and greater global exposure after it entered a sub-publishing partnership with the USA’s peermusic.

Peermusic, founded 95 years ago and emphasising its family-values culture, brands itself as “the largest independent music publisher in the world, with 39 offices.”

The Mushroom deal means its catalogue is now represented across the US, Canada, and Latin America (excluding Brazil).

Catalogues feature Kylie Minogue, Tobiahs, Amy Shark, Budjerah, Emily Wurramara, Bliss n Eso, Mia Wray, Hunters & Collectors, The Angels, Gordi, Middle Kids, Dan Sultan, Skyhooks, Yothu Yindi, and Archie Roach.

Peermusic is now handling Mushroom’s contemporary and legacy catalogue across copyright registration, royalty collection, sync, and creative opportunities, “further strengthening Mushroom’s international reach and exposure for its writers.”