LA's Create Music Group Hits $2.2B
Los Angeles-based Create Music Group has completed a $450 million funding round, pushing its valuation to $2.2 billion. The new capital will be used to expand the company's music-tech platform.
Founded in 2015 by Jonathan Strauss and Alexandre Williams, the company began by focusing on a specific data problem: collecting unclaimed YouTube revenue for electronic dance music and hip-hop artists. Strauss provided an initial $1 million investment, followed by a $2.25 million seed round to build the company's technology. The core of Create Music Group's platform is its data analytics and rights management engine, which provides artists with daily royalty data from services like Spotify and Apple Music. This is a significant technological shift from the traditional industry model of monthly or semi-annual payments, and is supplemented by tools like their "Splits" app for automated revenue sharing among collaborators. This funding round represents a rapid acceleration in valuation, more than doubling the $1 billion valuation it achieved following a $165 million private equity round led by Flexpoint Ford in June 2024. The company's founders retain majority ownership, with institutional investors like Ares Management and Flexpoint Ford holding minority stakes. A significant portion of its growth has been fueled by an aggressive acquisition strategy, with the company investing over $500 million in the past year alone. Key acquisitions include distribution platform Label Engine, electronic label Monstercat, and Berlin-based !K7 Music, alongside a recent strategic investment of over $300 million
