WMG leads UMG and Sony in music tech startup investments

All three major labels and some independents have made significant investments in music tech, but Warmer Music Group is clearly the most aggressive, at least in terms of the number of companies it has taken a stake in.

Sony is the least active but still invested in 11 startups, according to data parsed by Nathan McCartney for his industry newsletter The Bag.

Why invest?

Reasons for the investments range from portfolio diversification, finding new ways to monetize their catalogs, and wanting to be on the ground floor of a technology that could reshape their businesses.

Some, like UMG’s investments in Shazam and Pluto TV, already proved to be profitable when the companies were acquired, and others, like WMG’s stake in Roblox, seem poised to as their market values rise exponentially.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.