Top Brand Entertainment Company Optimizes Worth of Artists' Music Catalogs

About the Client

Protecting the Legacy of Iconic Music Artists  

This leading entertainment brand management company focuses on acquiring, developing, and managing the intellectual property of iconic music artists and their legacies. 

The Situation

Maintaining a Pulse on Acquisition Opportunities

With acquisitions in the music business soaring over the past few years, the music catalogs of iconic artists — those with a proven record of generating steady royalty revenue — have become of interest among investors seeking to enrich their portfolios with diversified assets. 

Due to increased interest in leading music catalogs, this entertainment brand management company wanted to assess the current value of its catalogs to determine if it would be the right time to financially leverage the assets.

Because the company wanted to kickstart this initiative, finding a full-time hire for the role did not fit its current plans. So the company decided to explore an alternative approach to finding a Director of Investments: on-demand talent acquisition.

The Solution

Leveraging an On-demand Talent Acquisition Platform 

After learning more about Graphite and the ability to find an independent expert within 24-48 hours, the company decided to engage an Account Executive (AE) to get a closer look at the platform. Once connected, the AE shared a detailed look at our: 

  1. Pool of 8,900+ independent experts 
  2. Communication tools (chat, messaging, and a virtual meeting room)
  3. Payment options in the platform 
  4. Project management tools 

Excited by the ease of finding a Director of Investments on the platform, the company provided the AE with specifics of the role. In particular, it wanted some adept at evaluating acquisition opportunities across intellectual property (IP) rights (sound recording, music publishing, name, and likeness). 

The selected expert would also need extensive experience driving all aspects of the investment process and developing and presenting strategic and financial analyses to the leadership team. Within 48 hours of posting the role on Graphite, the company's dedicated AE identified over 30 experts from the platform and hand-selected two to present to the company.

Out of the two candidates, it selected an experienced finance consultant with demonstrated experience conducting leveraged buyout (LBO) valuations and financial analyses, managing music contracts, and financial modeling for companies within the entertainment space. 

The Result

Estimated Worth Spikes Based on New Evaluation 

The eight-week project was started with an onboarding call with Graphite, the expert, and the company. Together the scope of the project was discussed, and clarifications around deliverables, metrics for success, and more were identified. 

Once completed, the independent expert started evaluating the acquisition opportunities across intellectual properties. Since the existing valuations were outdated, the finance expert created new valuations that took into account shifts in the industry, such as the rise of streaming services. 

Findings from this exercise were included as part of the financial analysis and then presented in a strategic order to the leadership team. The deliverables from this step were also used to support the deal executions identified in the acquisition opportunities. 

Pleased with the expert’s work in creating new valuations, the entertainment brand management company went on to command a higher price for the catalogs, optimizing their estimated worth and growing the brands of these iconic artists.