No Collusion? Chart Shows Music Industry’s Incestuous Ownership Web

The global recorded music industry enters the new decade with a more incestuous web of ownership than ever before, as this infographic from Cherie Hu illustrates.

It all began when Spotify offered the major labels an ownership share in lieu of early royalty payments. Then it accelerated as Spotify and China’s Tencent Music swapped pre-IPO shares.

But this twisted trend hit new heights when Tencent Music bought a $3 billion 10% stake in the world’s largest major music group, UMG.

via Cherie Hu

my attempt to make sense of this somewhat incestuous new music-industry landscape: pic.twitter.com/dF6LY4A513

— Cherie Hu (@cheriehu42) January 5, 2020