Music royalties trading platform JKBX launches – with regulatory approval from the SEC

It’s caused quite a buzz in the music business over the past year. Now song royalties trading platform JKBX is officially “open for business”.

JKBX has announced that it has received qualification from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its assets. The result: as of this week, investors – including consumers aka ‘retail investors’ – can legally purchase shares in the royalty streams of hits via JKBX.com.

The JKBX platform soft-launched last year, but while awaiting SEC qualification, its users could only ‘reserve’ (rather than outright buy) these royalty shares.

From today (March 6), those same users can buy royalty stakes in hits written and/or recorded by various superstar songwriters and artists ranging from Beyoncé to Ryan Tedder, Timbaland, the Jonas Brothers, Camila Cabello, Major Lazer, OneRepublic, Ed Sheeran, Louis Bell and many more.

As things stand, purchasers of royalty shares via JKBX cannot yet use the platform to then sell their shares to others.

However, JKBX’s FAQs confirm that its team are currently “working to give [JKBX users] the ability to trade your shares on the secondary market”, and that the company’s intention is to launch this feature later in 2024.

The people behind JKBX are familiar to the music business. The company was co-founded by Sam Hendel and John Chapman of private investment firm Dundee Partners, in addition to Scott Cohen.

Cohen, now JKBX’s CEO, is the co-founder of The Orchard and formerly Chief Innovation Officer of Warner Music Group.

“We said from day one that we wanted to go about this the right way,” said Cohen today regarding JKBX’s SEC qualification and the official launch of the platform.

“While getting regulatory approval took a bit longer than planned, JKBX is open for business now, and we can’t wait for music fans to make music rights the No.1 alternative asset in the market.”

Scott Cohen, JKBX 

Cohen added: “While getting regulatory approval took a bit longer than planned, JKBX is open for business now, and we can’t wait for music fans to make music rights the No.1 alternative asset in the market.”

Dundee Partners recently teamed with Universal Music Group on Chord Music Partners, which owns over 60,000 music assets including cuts on a range of Ryan Tedder hits.

Tedder said of JKBX’s official launch this week: “I love the idea that music fans will be able to participate in the success of some of music’s greatest hits, alongside artists, writers and producers.

“JKBX has done the hard work to make this possible in a safe and secure way, and I’m so excited for the fans as they get access to this part of the industry.”

JKBX says that its platform is open to international investors that meet their applicable securities regulations, but that JKBX is “currently optimized” for US-based individuals at this time.

In its FAQs for users, the company says that it will only list SEC-qualified assets on JKBX, which sells royalty shares in both musical compositions and recorded music.

“JKBX has done the hard work to make this possible in a safe and secure way, and I’m so excited for the fans as they get access to this part of the industry.”

Ryan Tedder

Also commenting on the launch of JKBX, DJ and Producer Diplo added: “I’ve been involved with many startups and businesses, and there is one thing I know for certain: you can’t win unless you have the best setup.

“JKBX is in the right position to make investing in music available to the fans since they only list qualified assets.”

“JKBX is in the right position to make investing in music available to the fans since they only list qualified assets.”

Diplo

Ron Laffitte, President/Founder of the Laffitte Management Group, said: “Music fans around the world are constantly looking to find new ways to connect with their favorite artists.

“I love that JKBX is opening up the doors for fans to be able to invest in the songs they love.”

“I love that JKBX is opening up the doors for fans to be able to invest in the songs they love.”

Ron Laffitte, the Laffitte Management Group

Listings on JKBX.com are organized in alphabetical order, by price per share, market cap, as well as by decade (2000s, 2010s), and genre.

If you wanted to buy royalty shares in the composition of Halo, for example, the hit single recorded by Beyoncé and co-written by hit songwriters Evan Bogart and Ryan Tedder, one share is priced at $14.51.

There are 100,000 Halo composition royalty shares being offered with a Market Cap of $1.451 million and an estimated Royalty Share yield of 3.45%.

The listing notes that the song has a two-Year Average Revenue of $51,134.76.

Meanwhile, if you wanted to buy royalty shares in the master recording of Lean On, the hit single recorded by Major Lazer, MØ and DJ Snake, one share is priced at $24.47

There are 200,000 Lean On master recording royalty shares being offered with a Market Cap of $4.894 million and an estimated Royalty Share yield of 3.6%.

The listing notes that the song has a three-year Average Revenue of $172,481.6.

Signed-in JKBX account holders are also able to view streaming metrics for listings from platforms including Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, Pandora, as well as total stream counts.

Users will also be able to view additional info such as a composition’s ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code).

Substantial numbers have been floating around JKBX, which said in a press release in August that it’s aiming to “become a transformative force in music and investing”.

The company raised USD $16 million in January 2023 from investors, according to a Billboard cover article in August 2023, with backers including Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, Valor Equity Partners, plus Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.

Billboard’s sources also suggested that the likes of Spotify, Live Nation, Red Light Management, and Bertelsmann Digital Media, have also invested in JKBX.

In February 2023, a Bloomberg article reported that JKBX already had “about $1.7 billion in music rights ‘exclusively secured’”, and expected to launch its platform with more than $4 billion of rights in its platform.

The songs listed on JKBX – in which investors can now buy slices of royalty income streams – are actually offered by the company’s affiliate, Jukebox Hits Vol. 1 LLC.

This LLC (“Hits Vol. 1”) will work with music rightsholders, says JKBX, to “identify income-generating songs and determine which songs to offer on the [JKBX] platform”.

Willing rightsholders will then sell a percentage of their income interests from these songs to the Hits Vol. 1 LLC – before Hits Vol.1 subsequently sells separate portions of these income streams to fans and investors via JKBX.

JKBX recently announced the launch of its Creator Program.

According to JKBX, the program will give artists and songwriters the opportunity to receive ongoing payments for the music they helped make – even if they’ve already sold their rights or no longer own the rights in their catalog.

JKBX says it will pay a portion of revenue to artists and songwriters who sign up for the program.

For creators that join the program, JKBX builds a page showcasing them, their songs, careers, and other creator-centric content (merchandising, charities, etc.).Music Business Worldwide