The Los Angeles headquarters of Ares Management Corporation, which has backed GoldState Music in a $500 million round. Photo Credit: Hathaway Dinwiddie
About five months after acquiring a reported $200 million worth of catalogs, GoldState Music has announced a $500 million strategic-capital raise.
West Palm Beach-based GoldState disclosed that half-billion-dollar round in a formal release today. The Charles Goldstuck-founded company attributed part of the sizable sum to a “structured capital facility” co-led by Northleaf Capital Partners and Ares Management (NYSE: ARES).
(Hardly a stranger to music IP, Northleaf in October 2021 led a $500 million raise for Spirit Music parent Lyric Capital, which went on to reveal an $800 million catalog fund in February 2023.)
Meanwhile, three-year-old GoldState also attributed a portion of the massive tranche to “separately raised leverage” – albeit without diving into the fundraising particulars at hand.
In any event, Goldstuck emphasized plans to bankroll additional IP deals yet with the newly obtained funding. Though that might appear obvious, GoldState clarified that the music space and catalogs are its “primary” – not sole – focus.
As spelled out by the business, it’s open to backing “enterprises in need of growth and expansion capital, as well as emerging music technology.”
“Our new relationship with Northleaf and Ares marks the next step in the evolution of our music investing strategy,” said the Hitco Entertainment founder Goldstuck. “This additional capital will enable us to further accelerate our ability to capitalize on increasing demand for music and build a diversified portfolio of music assets across artists and genres.
“As leading institutional investors, Northleaf and Ares bring critical experience that will support GoldState’s continued growth and differentiation to the benefit of our artists, investors and other stakeholders,” the former BMG exec finished.
Bigger picture, despite the ongoing streaming-growth slowdown and the many already-wrapped catalog deals, it’s safe to say investors remain interested in music IP.
To be sure, Pophouse Entertainment announced a $1.3 billion fund of its own to close out March, which also delivered a $250 million song-rights JV (Raven Music Partners) from Aquarian and Raven Capital as well as $200 million in debt funding for Duetti.
On the transactions side, DMN Pro’s Music IP Acquisition Tracker registered March investments from Primary Wave (which reportedly took a stake in the Notorious B.I.G. catalog at a $200 million overall valuation), Create Music Group (which is said to have spent $55 million on Deadmau5’s body of work), and more.
(Incidentally, GoldState/Goldstuck participated in Create’s $165 million Flexpoint Ford-led round back in June 2024.)
Especially because the majors, BMG, Reservoir, and other well-entrenched parties are likewise on the hunt for song rights, it’s safe to say the coming months (and probably years) will bring a steady stream of deals.
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