Firebird Music Launches $750 Million Catalog Fund Backed by Ares, Raine Group
The artist management and indie label company hopes its work helping artists build companies will give it an edge in the catalog acquisition market.
Black News 
The artist management and indie label platform Firebird Music is getting into the catalog acquisition space via a $750 million fund, supported in part by funds from the global investment firm Ares and global investment and advisory firm The Raine Group, Firebird said on Tuesday (June 30).
Launched in 2022 by former KKR partner and Gibson Brands chairman Nat Zilkha and former Ticketmaster and MusicToday CEO Nathan Hubbard, Firebird is a multi-sector music company that has acquired stakes in Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management, Transgressive Records (the home of Arlo Parks and Alvvays) and Ashley Gorley’s Tape Room, among many others.
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Firebird backs the management of more than 1,000 global artists, including Sabrina Carpenter, and helped launch artist-direct deals like YB Inc., the company it formed with Yungblood last year. It is banking that the reputation it has built with artists and their teams will make it an attractive “partner in artist music catalogue acquisition,” according to a press release.
“We are looking for opportunities where Firebird can add value, leveraging our label and publishing infrastructure, and our audience development team, which works with our management clients and frontline label clients. We have the playbook and are just giving it more scale,” Zilkha, co-founder and executive chairman of Firebird, tells Billboard.
Firebird already owns catalogue assets both directly and through its partnerships with labels.
“At its core, Firebird is about artist partnership and empowering music entrepreneurs … long-term partnerships where we have an ongoing relationship with the artist and creative team behind them,” Zilkha adds.
The fund includes approximately $350 million of equity capital secured from Ares, Firebird and Raine, and $400 million of debt financing provided by Pinnacle. As part of the deal, Ares funds took a minority equity stake in Firebird, while Ares’ managing director, Jeevan Sagoo, joined Firebird’s board of directors. Raine, one of Firebird’s earliest investors, remains its largest single investor.
“We believe Firebird’s innovative platform is helping artists build longer lasting, more impactful, and more profitable careers by investing in IP,” Sagoo said in a statement. “We are excited to join alongside Raine to provide scaled capital and deep music and entertainment investing experience to support their work with artists and their long-term growth.”
Billboard reported in January that Firebird raised $300 million in capital — adding to the several hundred million it had deployed in the firm and its collection of indie label partners including Alter Music, Defected and Leo33 up to that point.
