Over the past few years, a whole new class of power players has emerged in the music business: the investors and fund managers who have been buying up catalogs as financial assets. And since most of this activity took place since the pandemic started, these past few days in New York — publishing week or indie week, depending on which sector of the business you’re in — served as a kind of coming out party. The industry’s definitions of power, not to mention money, will never be the same again.
To mark the occasion, on Monday (June 12) Billboard organized its second Music & Money dinner this year — this one sponsored by the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) — to honor the power players in music investing. Held at Milo’s in New York and hosted by Billboard editorial director Hannah Karp and Billboard deputy editorial director Robert Levine alongside NMPA president and CEO David Israelite, the event — which was held the night prior to the first annual Music Investors Conference hosted by Israelite — brought together some of the biggest names in the booming music investment market.
Below is a rundown of the attendees and, if available, which assets each of their companies own. Scroll down to see photos from the event.
Pam Chan, chief investment officer/global head of the alternative solutions group at Blackrock, which has invested in Primary Wave and Influence Media Partners.
Josh Empson, CEO and chair of the board of directors at Tempo, which owns stakes in songs and albums by Wiz Khalifa and Korn as well as songwriters Jeff Bhasker, Ben Rector and Shane McAnally.
Ben Fischberg, portfolio manager at PIMCO.
Sam Hendel, co-founder of Dataminr, whose investments with father Stephen Hendel include stakes in JKBX, Kobalt, Boomy and others.
Robert Horowitz, chief investment officer at Iconic Artists Group, which owns stakes in songs and albums by Nat King Cole, Beach Boys, Linda Ronstadt and David Crosby.
David Kestnbaum, senior managing director at Blackstone, which has invested in SESAC, Hipgnosis Songs Capital and MNRK (formerly eOne Music).
Golnar Khosrowshahi, founder/CEO of Reservoir Media Management, which has stakes in copyrights by Louis Prima, Dion, Sonny Rollins, De La Soul and 100COPIES.
Larry Mestel, founder/CEO of Primary Wave Music, which owns stakes in the estates of Prince, James Brown, Whitney Houston.
Patrick Russo, partner of the executive committee at Shamrock Capital, which owns stakes in rights held by Big Machine Label Group, Metro Boomin and Dr. Dre, as well as the Stargate music publishing catalog.
Matt Settle, managing director of Carlyle, which has invested in Litmus Music.
Paul Sipio, principal at Apollo Global Management, which has invested in HarbourView Equity Partners.
Matthew Sparks, managing director at Northleaf, which has invested in Lyric Capital Group.
Ari Untracht, senior director at Eldrige, which owns stakes in Bruce Springsteen and The Killers’ catalogs, gamma, Chelsea F.C. and PME (a PMC subsidiary that owns Billboard).
Bob Valentine, president at Concord Music Publishing, which owns stakes in Downtown Music’s publishing copyrights and HitCo as well as rights held by Genesis, Phil Collins and songwriter Corey Crowder.
Billboard Pro members interested in attending future Music & Money events can email money@billboard.com.
Matt Settle, Matthew Sparks, David Israelite & Bob Valentine
Matt Settle, Matthew Sparks, David Israelite and Bob Valentine at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Golnar Khosrowshahi & Rob Levine
Golnar Khosrowshahi and Rob Levine at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Pam Chan & David Israelite
Pam Chan and David Israelite at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Ben Fischberg & Hannah Karp
Ben Fischberg and Hannah Karp at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Bob Valentine, Ari Untracht & Sam Hendel
Bob Valentine, Ari Untracht and Sam Hendel at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Hannah Karp & Matthew Sparks
Hannah Karp and Matthew Sparks at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Larry Mestel & David Kestnbaum
Larry Mestel and David Kestnbaum at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Patrick Russo
Patrick Russo at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
David Israelite
David Israelite at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Hannah Karp, Paul Sipio & Josh Empson
Hannah Karp, Paul Sipio and Josh Empson at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Matt Settle & Matthew Sparks
Matt Settle and Matthew Sparks at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Robert Horowitz, Rob Levine & Larry Mestel
Robert Horowitz, Rob Levine and Larry Mestel at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Sam Hendel, Matthew Sparks & Ben Fischberg
Sam Hendel, Matthew Sparks and Ben Fischberg at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Paul Sipio, Golnar Khosrowshahi & Ben Fischberg
Paul Sipio, Golnar Khosrowshahi and Ben Fischberg at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Robert Horowitz & Hannah Karp
Robert Horowitz and Hannah Karp at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Rob Levine, David Israelite & Pam Chan
Rob Levine, David Israelite and Pam Chan at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
Billboard Music & Money Dinner
Atmosphere at the Billboard Music & Money Dinner held at Milo’s on June 12, 2023 in New York City.
