Electronic Music: Sound Recording Royalties + Copyrights
Here’s a rare opportunity to own the underlying copyright to the master sound recording and the resulting royalties generated by a 12-year-old trance music catalog.
Historic royalty income is no indication of future royalty income. Future royalty income is dependent upon future sales and licensing revenue generated by the sound recordings or compositions associated with this listing.
| Starting Price: | $18,750 |
| Bidding Increment: | $250 |
| Closing Price: | $27,500 |
| End Date: | Apr 30, 2020, 3:10 PM MDT |
| Dollar Age: | 12.88 Years |
| Last 12 Months' Royalties: | $2,595 |
| Investment Term: | Life of author + 70 years |
| Distributors: | Ingrooves Music Group |
| Rights Included: | Rightsholder (World) |
| Interests Included: | Sales, Streaming, Sync |
| Track List: | |
| First Distribution (paid 30 days from receipt): | May 1, 2020 |
| Distribution Frequency: | Monthly |
| Buyer Fee: | 1% of closing price or $500 (whichever is greater)ठ|
‡ Investors placing the opening bid on any listing pay no marketplace fees if they win the resulting auction, a savings of 1% off the final price (minimum $500). All Access members who already receive this discount will be rewarded with a cash rebate equal to the marketplace fees.
§ Become a Royalty Exchange All Access Investor to waive auction fees and enjoy additional exclusive benefits.
What rights are included?
| Musical Composition | Sound Recording | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copyrights included? | — | Yes | ||||||
| Rights: |
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| Sources: | Internet Streaming, AM/FM & Satellite Radio, Digital Downloads, CD Sales, TV/Film/Commercial Placements & Performances, etc. | Internet Streaming, Satellite Radio, Digital Downloads, CD Sales, TV/Film/Commercial Placements, Samples, etc. | ||||||
| Distributors: | — | INgrooves Music Group |
Description
The winning bidder of this auction will not only collect the sound recording royalties the catalog generates from sales and streaming, but will also own the underlying master recording copyright. Owning the copyright gives you complete control over licensing, distribution, and more.
This catalog was acquired on Royalty Exchange in 2016 — you can see that auction here. The investor is now selling the asset.
LISTING HIGHLIGHTS:
- Ownership of the recordings = full control over future licensing
- Life of Rights investment term
- 12-year Dollar Age
- Stable, continuous earning history
- Monthly payments
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Streaming is both the largest source of earnings for this catalog, as well as the most stable. Streaming generated 81% of the last 12 months’ earnings, which is not uncommon for sound recording royalties, as they enjoy a disproportionate share of streaming royalty income.
The royalties for four of the top five tracks grew year-over-year. Returns are also widely distributed — the single highest-earning song only accounts for 14% of last year’s income. This means the catalog’s earnings are not tied to the success of a single track and provides built-in diversification.
ABOUT THE CATALOG:
This catalog features 470 tracks of psychedelic trance music from indie labels Neurobiotic Records and Indica Music.
The top-earning track is 2004’s “Peace of Mind” from Cell’s album Namaskar. Other notable titles include:
- Cell’s “Zaz” from their 2005 album Phonic Peace
- “Holy Cities” by Zen Mechanics (2011)
- Ethnica’s “Triptonite” released in 2012
Neurobiotic Records has been active in the psychedelic trance scene since 2001 and continues to release records today. It organized the first trance festivals in Italy from 2005-2007, called “Sonica,” which attracted more than 15,000 people from all over the world. Indica Music is a sublabel of Neurobiotic Records. Its biggest release—Cell's Phonic Peace— remains a top earner more than 15 years after its release.
Please note, the winning bidder will receive all associated sound recordings as part of the copyright transfer. Ingrooves has limited exclusivity in distributing to its channel partners, but the owner of this catalog has the right to distribute outside of the channels used by Ingrooves. That means the winning bidder of this auction may be able to monetize the catalog in ways that are not currently being explored.
Key Drivers
Dollar Age. This catalog has a Dollar Age of 12.88 years. This means the majority of royalties earned in the last 12 months came from songs that have collected royalties for nearly 13 years. A high Dollar Age like this suggests stability and longevity. This can help sustain a catalog's earnings moving forward.
Sound Recording Copyrights. You will own the sound recording copyrights (also known as “masters”) for this catalog. That means you'll have control over future licensing opportunities and any new revenue sources for the music.
Sound Recordings. Sound recording royalties benefit from streaming disproportionately more than composition-based royalties. If Spotify pays 70-cents of every dollar on music rights, 60-cents of that goes to the sound recording copyright (which the label splits with the artist based on their contract agreement), while the remaining 10-cents goes to the composition copyright.
You can see this trend reflected in the catalog up for bid. In the last year, 81% of royalties came from streaming. This is good news for you as the investor, as it follows the industry macro trend of rising label streaming royalties.
About the Royalty Distributor
Founded in 2002, Ingrooves Music Group is a global music marketing and distribution company that provides custom services for artists and independent record labels. With a global team of experts and a powerful technology framework, Ingrooves provides transparent distribution tools and marketing solutions to maximize revenue in today’s dynamic music marketplace. In 2019, Ingrooves was acquired by Universal Music Group.