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Short abstract:

This paper explores royalty bonds, a growing trend in the assetization of recorded music through a qualitative case study of two firms, the Hipgnosis Song Trust and JKBX, to help understand the techno-economic lock-in of cultural commodities.

Long abstract:

This paper explores music royalty bonds, a growing trend in the assetization of recorded music. Royalty bonds are an investment asset that allow investment firms and investors to buy stock in the rights to music catalogues from record labels and publishers. These bonds are not a new phenomenon, but they have become more viable as an investment asset over the past decade as music streaming platforms have steadily inflated and stabilized the value of recorded music royalties. Throughout In the early 2020s, royalty bonds have surged in popularity, representing a new development in the aggressive financialization of music as a commodity that has been taking place since the late 1990s. This paper considers two cases of music assetization. The Hipgnosis Song Fund (est. 2018) is an investment firm that has acquired the rights to full catalogues of superstars such as Leonard Cohen and Justin Timberlake and rights to individual chart-topping songs from artists such as Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber. JKBX (est. 2022) is a public trading platform that enables individuals to invest in royalty bonds for hits by artists such as Beyoncé and Adele. Drawing on industry trade press, interviews with representatives, and field ethnography at multiple large international music trade events, this paper examines the discourse and disquiet surrounding this trend of music assetization, the policy questions involved in securitizing music for public and private investment, and the ways in which royalty bonds illuminate the techno-economic lock-in of cultural commodities.