Music Reports

What Music Reports does

Music Reports, Inc. is a Woodland Hills, California-based music rights administration platform founded in 1995 that serves as neutral infrastructure between music rights holders (publishers, songwriters, composers) and music users (streaming platforms, broadcasters, fitness and social platforms). The company administers over $400 million in annual royalties on behalf of 500+ global clients including Netflix, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, HBO, CBS, Fox, Peloton, TikTok, and Sirius XM, producing 12M+ royalty statements and processing 1M+ cue sheets annually across 200+ territories. Its product portfolio is anchored by Songdex, a neutral registry covering 180M+ distinct sound recordings and compositions; Cuetrak, a cue sheet creation and analytics platform; and Blokur, a graph-based music data and licensing platform acquired in January 2024 that powers the new Trakdex matching engine.

The underlying technology stack is cloud-native and DDEX-standard compliant, with SOC-audited SSAE-18 controls and proprietary intellectual property including US Patent No. 10,157,434 for sound recording data matching. Music Reports generates revenue through a mix of recurring enterprise subscriptions for license administration services, transaction-based fees for royalty processing and payment distribution, and professional services for strategic consulting, Copyright Royalty Board proceedings, and data services. The pricing model is dual-sided: enterprise customers (DSPs, broadcasters) pay quote-based fees for platform access and services, while publisher and rights holder accounts are free with no commissions on royalties paid. Go-to-market is primarily enterprise field sales with a 'Book a Demo' funnel, supplemented by self-service publisher portals and a Blokur-powered API for embedded rights verification.

The company has been PE-owned since August 2020, when MidOcean Partners acquired it from ABRY Partners and the co-founders, and has since executed the Blokur acquisition (January 2024) and a leadership transition (February 2024) elevating long-tenured operators to the CEO, COO/GC, and CTO roles. Active areas of expansion include the AI music generation vertical, decentralized music platforms (Audius partnership), and the Songdex Marketplace opt-in licensing model, all of which suggest a deliberate strategy to extend Music Reports' neutral intermediary role into emerging music distribution models.

Name

Music Reports

Legal name

Music Reports, Inc.

Website

http://www.musicreports.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Music Reports is a music rights administration platform serving digital music services, broadcasters, publishers, and fitness and social platforms with license administration, royalty processing, and cue sheet management for 500+ global clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Woodland Hills

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. License Administration Services: Revenue generated from administering music licenses for digital music services, broadcasters, and other music users. This includes processing license terms, managing rights clearances, and handling compliance reporting. The company acts as a neutral transaction platform.
2. Royalty Processing and Payment Services: Processing royalty payments from music usage data. Music Reports ingests DSP usage data, transforms it into DDEX-standard reports, and distributes to CMOs while validating, reconciling, and preventing duplicate payments. Revenue comes from fees charged to licensees for processing and distributing royalties to rights holders.
3. Data and Consulting Services: Strategic consulting for music business operations, copyright research support, and technical consulting for music industry settlements and proceedings. Includes services for precedent-setting rights administration and Copyright Royalty Board proceedings.
4. Platform Subscriptions (for some services): Account setup and maintenance for publishers and music owners is free with no fees or commissions. However, enterprise customers (music users/licensees) pay for platform access and services. The Songdex Marketplace enables efficient license procurement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Music Reports operates a music rights administration platform providing license administration, royalty processing, cue sheet management, and data-matching services. The company maintains the Songdex database of more than 180 million sound recordings, powers licensing transactions via the Songdex Marketplace, delivers cue sheet management through Cuetrak, and offers data and rights-matching technology through Blokur and Trakdex for digital music services, broadcasters, rights holders, and AI music companies.

Product overview

Music Reports operates as a comprehensive music rights administration platform offering multiple integrated products and services. The core portfolio includes Songdex (the world's largest neutral music copyright registry covering 180+ million recordings), Cuetrak (leading cue sheet and analytics solution), and Blokur (acquired music data and licensing platform). These products are complemented by the Songdex Marketplace for license clearance, License Administration services for royalty payments, and the newly developed Trakdex matching technology. The platform serves as infrastructure for DSPs and global rights owners, processing billions of transactions monthly with DDEX-standard reporting capabilities. Music Reports processes over $400M in annual royalties, produces 12M+ royalty statements annually, and manages over 1M cue sheets per year for 500+ global clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Songdex: The world's largest neutral registry of music copyright information, maintained for over 30 years, covering more than 180 million distinct sound recordings and compositions with trusted data on publisher information, share splits, territorial rights, synchronization rights, mechanical rights, and composer information.
• Cuetrak
• Blokur

Products and services

• Songdex
• Songdex Marketplace
• Cuetrak
• Blokur
• Trakdex
• License Administration
• Opt-in Licensing
• License Status Reporting
• Music Publisher Portal
• Catalog Health Check
• Unclaimed Royalty Processing
• Notice of Intent (NOI) Service

Quantifiable outcome

• 10 percentage point improvement in match rate over baseline through Trakdex integration
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability6 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• SoundstripeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 November 2024Music licensing firm Soundstripe announced partnership with Music Reports (along with Orfium, Tuned Global, and Cyanite) as part of new initiatives for 2025. Details on specific integration or collaboration scope were referenced to external press release.
• AudiusminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 May 2024Audius, the largest decentralized music community and discovery platform with 6 million monthly users, partnered with Music Reports to power licensing of rights and payments to music publishers through the Songdex Marketplace opt-in licensing platform. Audius provides music marketplace infrastructure while Music Reports handles licensing and royalty payment administration.
• BlokurcoreTechnology or Integration · 31 January 2024Music Reports acquired Blokur, a music licensing and data platform founded in 2015 and based in London. Blokur brings complementary data matching and rights identification technology. The acquisition enhances music rights management, metadata matching, and industry tools for clients worldwide, integrating Blokur's technology with Music Reports' existing platforms.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• SoundExchange: Designated non-interactive DPRO and digital performance royalty administrator serving streaming, satellite, and webcaster licensees. Competes with Music Reports' royalty processing and rights matching capabilities for digital audio royalties, and shares Aaron Partington (Music Reports CTO) as a former SoundExchange technology/product leader.
• The Harry Fox Agency (HFA) / SESAC HFA: Largest US mechanical licensing and royalty administration agent for music publishers, now under SESAC. Directly competes with Music Reports' mechanical and publishing administration services for digital services and DSPs.
• The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC): Designated collective created by the Music Modernization Act to administer blanket mechanical licenses for interactive streaming. Operates the matching and unclaimed royalty distribution function Music Reports' Trakdex competes with for the same unmatched works pool.
• Audiam / Create Music Group: Music rights administration and royalty collection platform (formerly Audiam, now part of Create Music Group) focused on matching, claiming, and administering publishing royalties for independent songwriters and publishers. Directly comparable to Music Reports' Songdex Claiming and publishing admin offerings.
• Kobalt Music Group: Independent music publisher providing publishing administration, rights management, and royalty/analytics services. Competes with Music Reports for digital rights admin and royalty processing, particularly for independent publishers and songwriters.
• Audible Magic: Audio content identification and rights management vendor for streaming, broadcast, and UGC platforms. Comparable to Music Reports' Blokur and Songdex matching capabilities for identifying ownership and verifying rights at scale.
• Songtrust: Independent global publishing administrator (a Downtown company) providing song registration, royalty collection, and rights admin for songwriters and publishers worldwide. Competes directly with Music Reports' publishing administration and opt-in licensing services.

Emerging players

• Pex (Audio oper8): Rights management and content identification platform for music, video, and UGC, with growing focus on music rights matching and royalty attribution. Comparable emerging technology competitor to Blokur and Trakdex.

Broad incumbents

• BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.): US performing rights organization collecting public performance royalties for over 1M songwriters/composers. Overlaps with Music Reports' performance rights administration and rights data services; Aaron Partington (Music Reports' CTO) previously held senior technology/product roles at BMI.
• ASCAP: One of the two largest US performing rights organizations, licensing public performance of more than 20 million works. Operates in adjacent rights administration and cue-sheet related services that overlap with Music Reports' Performance Rights Administration product set.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MusicReportsInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/music-reports-inc
• Instagraminstagram.com/MusicReportsInc
• Facebookfacebook.com/251668531511272

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Music Reports