What Litmus Music does

Litmus Music is a privately-held music rights acquisition and management company founded in August 2022 and headquartered in Los Angeles, with a secondary office in New York. The company acquires and manages both music publishing and recorded music rights across multiple genres, geographies, and vintages, generating revenue primarily through streaming royalties, synchronization licensing, and other publishing income streams derived from its owned catalog portfolio. Its current portfolio includes master recordings and publishing rights from Keith Urban, the composition catalog of benny blanco, a creative partnership covering Katy Perry's five Capitol Records studio albums (reported at $225 million), recorded music and publishing for Randy Newman (including Disney film franchise scores such as Toy Story, Cars, Monsters Inc., and The Princess and the Frog), and Opus Music Group — a wholly acquired music rights company owning catalogs of Juice WRLD and Maluma.

The company was co-founded by music industry veterans Hank Forsyth (CEO; formerly of Warner Chappell Music, EMI Music, and Blue Note Records) and Dan McCarroll (Chief Creative Officer; former President of Warner Bros. Records and Capitol Records, and most recently global head of originals and artist relations at Amazon Music). Litmus was launched with an initial $500 million private equity and debt commitment from Carlyle Global Credit, the credit investment platform of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), which extended an additional $400 million credit facility in 2024 to fund the Opus Music Group acquisition. Carlyle's Credit Opportunities strategy has deployed over $3 billion in sports, media, and entertainment since 2018.

The business model is direct deal-making with established recording artists, songwriters, and rights-holders — leveraging the founders' deep industry relationships for sourcing, negotiating, and managing catalogs. Distribution is indirect: acquired rights generate revenue through existing music industry infrastructure including streaming platforms, performing rights organizations, and synchronization licensing. Litmus operates as a financial-asset and rights-management platform rather than a technology business, with no proprietary AI, software, or data products disclosed. Customer-facing activity is supported primarily through direct artist relationships and earned media in industry publications rather than traditional sales or marketing channels.

Name

Litmus Music

Legal name

Litmus Music

Website

https://litmusmusic.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Litmus Music is a private, Carlyle-backed music rights acquisition and management company founded in 2022 by industry veterans Hank Forsyth and Dan McCarroll, acquiring publishing and master rights from established artists including Keith Urban, Katy Perry, Benny Blanco, Juice WRLD, Maluma, and Randy Newman to generate streaming, sync, and publishing royalty revenue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Rights Acquisition & Catalog Management

NAICS

Music Publishers (512230)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Master Rights Ownership & Catalog Management (MPAIAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Publishing Administration (Catalog Admin, Global Subpublishing) (MPAIABAB), Music Rights Administration & Royalty Processing (Admin, Accounting, Statements) (MPAIAKAD)

Keywords

• Music rights acquisition
• Music publishing
• Recorded music catalogs
• Catalog management
• Synchronization licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Music Catalog Acquisition and Management: Acquiring music catalogs (both recorded music and publishing rights) from artists and managing those rights for long-term revenue generation through streaming royalties, synchronization licensing, and other music publishing income streams.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Litmus Music acquires and manages music rights—encompassing both music publishing copyrights and recorded music (master) catalogs—across diverse genres, geographies, and vintages. The company negotiates bespoke catalog acquisition deals and creative partnerships directly with established artists, songwriters, and rights holders, then manages the ongoing royalty streams (streaming, synchronization, and other publishing income) from those catalogs.

Product overview

Litmus Music is a music rights acquisition and management company launched in 2022 with $500 million in funding from Carlyle Global Credit. The company operates a unified platform for acquiring and managing both music publishing and recorded music rights across diverse genres, geographies, and vintages. Its portfolio includes artist catalogs such as Keith Urban's master recordings, Benny Blanco's composition portfolio, Katy Perry's album catalog, Randy Newman's catalog (including Disney film scores), and the acquired Opus Music Group (containing Juice WRLD and Maluma rights). The company maintains offices in Los Angeles and New York.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Keith Urban Master Recordings Catalog Master recordings catalog acquired from Keith Urban in December 2022, covering ten multi-platinum/platinum/gold certified studio albums, a greatest hits compilation, twenty-four #1 songs, and thirty-six consecutive Top 5s, with an ongoing collaboration agreement for future works.
• Benny Blanco Composition Portfolio Music publishing composition portfolio acquired from producer/songwriter benny blanco, covering hundreds of songs including multi-platinum hits 'Eastside', 'Roses', 'Señorita', 'Moves Like Jagger', 'Love Yourself', 'Diamonds', 'Die for You', and 'Rockabye'.
• Katy Perry Catalog Partnership Creative partnership with Katy Perry covering all five of her studio albums released between 2008 and 2020 (One of the Boys, Teenage Dream, PRISM, Witness, Smile), including 16 multi-platinum singles.
• Randy Newman Catalog Partnership Creative partnership covering Randy Newman's recorded music and publishing rights, including Disney film franchise scores (Toy Story, Cars, Monsters Inc., The Princess and the Frog) and hits from the 1970s-1980s such as 'I Love L.A.', 'Short People', and 'You've Got A Friend In Me'.
• Opus Music Group Portfolio Music rights company acquired by Litmus in September 2024, owning the catalogs of Juice WRLD and Maluma; now operates as part of Litmus's portfolio under a $400 million extended credit facility.
• Music Publishing and Recorded Music Rights Acquisition & Management Core ongoing service of acquiring and managing music publishing and recorded music rights across multiple genres, geographies, and vintages, generating revenue through streaming royalties, synchronization licensing, and other publishing income streams.

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Opus Music GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 September 2024Litmus Music acquired Opus Music Group which owns music rights of Juice WRLD and Maluma. The acquisition was funded through an extended $400 million credit facility. Opus operates as part of Litmus's catalog portfolio.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Primary Wave Music: Independent music publisher, talent management and rights company that acquires and administers catalogs across publishing, master rights and adjacent rights. One of the most direct competitors in the active-buyer set for marquee artist and songwriter catalogs.
• Concord Music Group: Independent music company combining a recorded music label, music publishing division and theatrical rights. Acquires and manages catalogs across genres and vintages, competing directly for the same high-profile artist and songwriter rights as Litmus.
• Tempo Music Investments: Music rights investment firm backed by Blackstone that acquires publishing and master rights catalogs. Highly comparable strategy of deploying institutional capital into music IP as an asset class.
• Hipgnosis Songs Fund: Publicly-listed investment vehicle focused on acquiring music publishing catalogs and songwriter royalties. Pioneer of the institutional catalog-acquisition model and a benchmark for returns and valuation in the segment Litmus operates in.
• Influence Media Partners: Music rights investment firm backed by institutional capital that acquires both publishing and master rights catalogs. Identified alongside Litmus as one of the key active buyers in the current music catalog M&A market.
• Spirit Music Group: Independent music publisher that acquires and administers publishing catalogs and master rights. Overlapping operating model in catalog acquisition, administration and royalty collection.
• Kobalt Music Group: Independent music publisher and rights administrator with technology-enabled royalty tracking, signing songwriters and acquiring catalogs. Comparable focus on music publishing rights administration and catalog investment.
• Round Hill Music Royalty Fund: Investment fund that acquires music publishing catalogs, songwriter royalties and master rights. Named as a current active buyer in the same set as Litmus, with a comparable strategy of buying established, income-generating music IP.
• Reservoir Media: Independent music publisher and rights management company that acquires publishing catalogs and master rights, with a focus on catalog administration and royalty optimization. Highly comparable operating model in publishing-adjacent rights investing.

Broad incumbents

• BMG: Major integrated music company combining recorded music, publishing and rights management with global scale. While much larger and more diversified than Litmus, BMG is one of the named competing buyers for premium catalogs and offers comparable rights-administration capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/litmusmusic

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Litmus Music