Y Royalties

What Y Royalties does

Y Royalties is a London-based professional services firm specialising in music royalty accounting, auditing, transaction advisory, rights management, and data analytics. Founded in 2023 by Colin Young, Ben Marlow, and Gary Groutage as a spinout from the royalties division of accountancy firm C.C. Young & Co, the firm serves recording artists, songwriters, independent labels, publishers, collection societies, and music investment funds across the UK, Sweden, the US, and Latin America. The company positions itself at the intersection of music rights, data, and finance, with an explicit value proposition of transparency and recovery of missing or misallocated royalty income.

The company's core offering consists of five integrated service modules — Rights Management & Royalty Tracking, Royalty Auditing, Royalty Accounting, Transaction Services, and Data Management & Insights — underpinned by a proprietary analytics framework and a cloud-based data warehouse (built on AWS and Databricks infrastructure). The technology stack ingests data from any royalty source, transforms it into structured intelligence, and applies anomaly detection, automation, and machine learning to reconcile reported royalties against actual DSP usage across 3 million musical works and 100 terabytes of streaming data. Bespoke dashboards and automated statement generation are delivered to clients.

Commercially, Y Royalties operates a pure B2B professional services model with bespoke, quote-based pricing appropriate for high-value enterprise engagements. Revenue is generated through fee-for-service audit work, ongoing royalty accounting mandates, transaction due diligence mandates, and recurring rights management engagements. The firm monetises its proprietary data assets both directly (as the delivery mechanism for audit and accounting services) and indirectly (by enabling differentiated outcomes such as £12 million in claims from DSP publishing audits and £3 million-plus in recovered royalties for major artists). Marketing is driven by earned media (Music Week coverage), thought-leadership content, and senior-led relationship-based business development.

Name

Y Royalties

Legal name

Y Royalties Ltd.

Website

https://yroyalties.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Y Royalties is a London-based professional services firm providing music royalty accounting, auditing, rights management, transaction due diligence, and data analytics to recording artists, songwriters, labels, publishers, and music investment funds across the UK, US, Sweden, and Latin America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Royalty Services

NAICS

Music Publishers (51223), Music Publishers (512230)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Music Rights Administration & Royalty Processing (Admin, Accounting, Statements) (MPAIAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Royalty Auditing, Compliance & Anti-Piracy/Enforcement (MPAIAKAE), Royalty Analytics, Forecasting & Valuation Services (MPAIAKAG), Rights Data, Metadata, Identifier & Repertoire Management (ISWC/ISRC/IPI, Matching) (MPAIAKAF)

Keywords

• Music royalty auditing
• Royalty accounting services
• Music rights management
• Catalogue valuation
• Royalty data analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Holborn

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Royalty Auditing Services: End-to-end royalty audit services covering recording, publishing, distribution, joint venture, and merchandise agreements. The company has recovered millions in claims for clients through comprehensive audit engagements.
2. Transaction Services: Data-led catalogue valuations and due diligence for buyers, sellers, and financiers. Supports the full transaction lifecycle from entry to exit.
3. Royalty Accounting: Comprehensive third-party accounting services across all income sources including publishing, records, performance, and neighbouring rights. Includes client-facing royalty portal.
4. Rights Management & Royalty Tracking: Rights portfolio management, registration optimisation, and real-time monitoring services for artists and songwriters.
5. Data Management & Insights: Advanced analytics, A.I.-driven solutions, and bespoke dashboards delivering rapid insights and actionable intelligence for royalty optimisation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Y Royalties provides specialized music royalty accounting, auditing, rights management, and transaction advisory services for music rights holders, labels, publishers, and investors. The firm combines deep industry expertise with a proprietary analytics framework and cloud-based data warehouse to recover missing royalty revenue, optimize rights portfolios, support catalogue valuations and due diligence, and deliver data-led insights across the music rights value chain.

Product overview

Y Royalties offers a unified suite of five integrated service modules for the music royalty ecosystem: Rights Management & Royalty Tracking, Royalty Auditing, Royalty Accounting, Transaction Services, and Data Management & Insights. These services work together to provide end-to-end coverage of the music rights journey—from rights registration and royalty collection through to audit, accounting, and transaction advisory. The Data Management & Insights module serves as the technological backbone, applying AI-driven analytics to support and enhance the other four services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Rights Management & Royalty Tracking

Quantifiable outcome

• £12M in claims from DSP Publishing Audits
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• C.C. Young & CocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerY Royalties was established in 2023 by Colin Young, Ben Marlow and Gary Groutage, spinning out from the Royalties division at Award Winning Accountancy firm C.C. Young & Co. The companies continue to work alongside each other across the UK, Sweden, and the US. C.C. Young has nearly 30 years of experience in the Music Industry.

Scale indicators9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• BMG Rights Management: Major music publisher and rights administrator serving songwriters, artists, and labels at global scale. Competes with Y Royalties in publishing administration and royalty accounting, but as part of a much broader recorded-music and publishing portfolio.
• Alvarez & Marsal: Global professional services firm providing valuation, due diligence, and restructuring advisory. Comparable to Y Royalties' Transaction Services; Alex Bowler, who leads Y Royalties' Transaction Services, previously worked at A&M.
• KPMG (Entertainment Advisory): Big Four professional services firm with a media and entertainment practice offering royalty audits, valuations, and tax advisory to music and media clients. Overlaps with Y Royalties' audit and transaction services at the enterprise end of the market.
• FTI Consulting (Entertainment & Media): Global advisory firm with an entertainment and media practice providing royalty audits, valuations, and forensic accounting. Directly overlaps with Y Royalties' audit and transaction advisory offerings, but serves a much wider set of industries.

Direct peers

• Songtrust: Music publishing administration platform collecting royalties globally for songwriters and publishers. Highly comparable to Y Royalties' Rights Management & Royalty Tracking service, both serving the same rights-holder customers with administration and royalty distribution.
• Downtown Music: Global music services company providing publishing administration, royalty accounting, and distribution for rights holders. Overlaps with Y Royalties across publishing admin and royalty accounting, with a similarly broad service menu.
• Kobalt Music Group: Technology-forward music publisher and rights administrator serving songwriters and labels globally. Comparable to Y Royalties in using proprietary technology to modernise royalty collection and rights management for creators.
• Hipgnosis Songs Management: Music IP investment manager overseeing catalogue acquisitions and post-deal royalty optimisation. Comparable to Y Royalties' Transaction Services and rights optimisation work, particularly via Dom Scialo who previously worked there.
• Sentric Music: UK-based music publishing administrator offering rights registration, royalty collection, and creative services to songwriters and independent publishers. Directly comparable to Y Royalties' UK-focused rights management and accounting offerings.

Emerging players

• Royalty Exchange: Online marketplace for buying and selling music royalty streams, providing valuations and transaction support for catalogue deals. Adjacent to Y Royalties' Transaction Services but operates as a marketplace rather than a bespoke advisory firm.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/y-royalties
• Instagraminstagram.com/yroyalties_/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Y Royalties