It's Only Rock & Roll But They Like It

The Family Offices and UHNWIs That Deployed BIG Capital Into Music Alts

Music IP is emerging as the next frontier in family office alternatives.

It combines the yield and downside protection of real estate, the cultural cachet of art, and the scalability of private equity. Today, there are roughly seven major allocators in the space.

Of all the corners of capital allocation I work in, this one’s my favorite.

It’s still early days. Music typically makes up only 1–5% of a family office’s alternatives sleeve. But participation has surged since 2019. What started as experimentation is now becoming strategic: as institutional giants like KKR, Blackstone, and Apollo deploy billions, family offices have a unique edge in spotting under-monetized catalogs and partnering with platforms like Chord to lock in stable, uncorrelated cash flows.

Family offices and UHNWIs are steadily expanding into music-related assets, though the category remains niche compared to private equity, real estate, or hedge funds.

One term you’ll see later in this piece is “private market sleeve”. It means the portion of a family office’s portfolio allocated to private investments outside the stock and bond markets . It’s stuff like private equity, real estate, venture, infrastructure, and now, music IP. Below the paywall link is all of the details about who’s allocating and making deals in this space, and if you’re not a subscriber you can also read one article at no charge at any time.

If you’re curious about how these deals actually work, what’s behind the numbers, or how to think about music in the context of a private market sleeve, hit reply and send me your questions on music alts.