The start-up’s platform shall help artists, record labels, publishers and songwriters to become financially independent, while giving investors and music fans the opportunity to own music rights of their favorite artists’ catalogs, and profit through music royalties.

ANote Music, a Luxembourg-based start-up, is officially launching its music royalty investment platform on 28 July.

The stock exchange application for music investments allows users to invest in music, own rights from content creators, and earn returns through the royalties that are generated over time. 

The idea is to bring together music catalogs and rights owners in search of new money, on the one hand, and investors in search of assets that generate new sources of income, on the other hand.

“We provide a secure and transparent platform for artists, record labels, publishers, and songwriters to become financially independent, offering immediate access to funding through the sale of music rights”, the start-up says in a press-release. 

On the other side, “we offer investors and music fans the opportunity to own music rights of their favorite artists’ catalogs and profit through music royalties”.

Concretely, artist catalogs or musical albums are split into 1,000, 10,000 shares or more. The original owner of the rights sells the majority of these, while keeping the rest, as the entire catalog cannot be sold.

We offer investors and music fans the opportunity to own music rights of their favorite artists’ catalogs and profit through music royalties.

Irma, first on the list

Like on any stock-exchange, shares will be listed on the platform, to be purchased via an auction system.

New music rights owners will then receive royalties over the years. These are generated by sales and downloads of the album, then collected around the world by the societies of authors, composers and music publishers. The shares of rights can then be traded further.

ANote Music’s platform uses the blockchain technology, which will allow a secure, reliable and transparent royalty exchange system, while securing transaction execution and keeping track of the chain of rights ownership.

Once registered, royalty holders upload the shares of songs they want to auction, then place their sales orders at the desired amount.

Opposite, investors register and receive these shares against payment, at the price agreed between the two parties.

On behalf of investors, ANote Music manages royalties and ensures that investors receive royalty (cash) flows generated by the music.

The catalog of Irma records, an Italian company releasing alternative acoustic lounge and dance music, is the first to be listed on the platform at a total value of €200,000.

Starting price per share will be €20. Early birds can already benefit a commission-free trading, 5% cashback discount, no distribution fees for 2 years and a pre-registered account.

The start-up claims over €100.000 already collected in bids.

Founded on January 2018 by Marzio F. Schena, Matteo Cernuschi and Grégoire Mathonet and based in Belval’s Technoport, ANote Music closed a €500,000-plus funding round last January.

The three founders already consider extending their concept to other production of artistic and even culinary origin, based on the idea that illiquid products – although having no real connection with the world of finance – could be turned into investment assets and offer both income streams and growth and diversification potential for artists and investors.