David Schulhof, Founder and CEO of MUSQ Global Music Industry ETF, joined Keith Black, Managing Director of RIA Channel, in the songwriter capital of the world, to discuss investing in the music industry.
Evergreen Copyrights had offices on Music Row in Nashville, where Schulhof published a catalog of over 100,000 songs, including Taylor Swift, Seals and Croft, and Roy Orbison.
After running and investing in music companies for 25 years, Schulhof launched the first pure-play music ETF (MUSQ) in July 2023. This thematic investment offers exposure to innovation, streaming, and content. This ETF gives investors a front-row seat to the music industry by allocating to stocks in five sectors including streaming, content and distribution, live music events and ticketing, equipment and technology, and satellite and radio. The fund is global, with 40% of holdings listed in the US and 60% listed in international markets. Top performers in the fund include Spotify and Sphere. International holdings include South Korea’s Genie Music, Japan’s Avex Inc, and Taiwan’s Him International Music.
Schulhof believes that music companies are the most undervalued and under-monetized media assets. Stock prices of many portfolio companies have been rising as streaming companies have been raising rates, with a portion of the increased revenue distributed to labels and others in the creative process.
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