"Serial entrepreneur, we on our own...Stop sittin' around waitin' for folks to throw you a bone..."~Jay-Z
Jay-Z's business portfolio and ascension 📈, vertical integration, Bad 🐰 big 💰, Steve Cooper's incredible 🏃🏼♂️, the top 20 artists over the past 5 years, and MC Serch 💵
When you become an entrepreneur, you realize how hard it is to build a business. The ups and downs, highs and lows, self doubt, can all be exhausting.
But a lot of times entrepreneurship is about survival and staying the course when it’s easy to throw in the towel because things aren’t going right.
Nipsey said it best, “I just didn’t quit. That’s the only distinguishing quality.”
Jay-Z turned 53 last week and he’s also someone that has not quit. He’s done the opposite, he continues to push forward.
It’d be easy for him to just take endorsement checks all day. Lend his brand to this company or that company for big money but he’s decided to go the alternative route, time and time again.
The hard route. The entrepreneur route. The builder’s route. The route where you can fail in public and the peanut gallery can weigh in with their two cents about how you didn’t know what you were doing.
Anyways, it got me thinking about what he’s been building in the different verticals in which he has interests.
Here’s a look:
While the entrepreneurial spirit has always been a core piece of his DNA, it’s been interesting to watch him continue to branch out into different verticals throughout the different phases of his business career.
Obviously, interests change with growth and he finds a way to keep upping the ante.
As he shared in his song with Pharrell Williams “Entrepreneur”:
“Sippin' crip-a-Cola consumer and a owner, uh
'Til we all vertically integrated from the floor up”
Mr. Carter has worked to make sure that he’s as vertically integrated as possible in his key vertical, music, and I’m sure other verticals are to follow. This makes his company self sufficient and only needs to lean on partnerships where the majority of the leverage is already in Roc Nation’s favor.
Not only has he figured out that blueprint for himself, he’s opened the floodgates for others to join him or emulate him. The latter is easier said than done.
As he ventures into the next phase of being an entrepreneur with new businesses in cannabis, sportsbooks, and potentially NFL ownership, one thing we know for sure is he’ll be kicking the doors open for others to join him or follow.
Bad Bunny = Big $
There’s been no shortage of coverage on Bad Bunny’s historic year. While many reports have covered what his two tours have grossed in 2022, I thought it would be more appropriate to take a look at what he may have netted.
There are extremely high costs in the touring business so gross numbers can be a bit misleading as to what actually goes into an artist’s pockets. The costs get even higher in nations outside of the United States as there are even more variables.
With that shared, applying a 34% net take home after all commissions and costs to Bad Bunny’s US run of the “World’s Hottest Tour” would net him with $127M. This is aligned with the formula that Billboard uses to calculate their annual “Money Makers” list.
That’s an enormous amount of money and this has nothing to do with his South America run or other revenue streams. Good for him for doing it the right way and making sure that fans get to see him no matter where they are located.
Heat Check…
Speaking of being hot, I was curious to see who has been 🔥 and is keeping the flame going. So I pulled together a list of the top 20 artists over the past 5 years by album sales and consumption. This only includes each artist’s solo work.
On this list, Republic Records led the way with 6 of the top 20 artists.
UMG has representation from 13 acts, Sony has 4 acts, WMG has 2 acts (1 of which who has recently left for UMG), and Empire has 1 act. Steve Cooper’s comments around WMG being less reliant on superstar acts seems to be coming true.
The data comes from Luminate and ran from Jan 1, 2018 - Nov 30, 2022.
In the US, clearly Drake + Taylor Swift are a level above everyone else during this time period.
Incredible Run🏃
Steve Cooper has had one helluva run at Warner Music Group. With a diverse background that includes stints heading up Krispy Kreme and MGM, his reputation was that of a fixer. He’d clean up distressed assets and return them in a healthier position.
He sure returned WMG in a healthier position. When Len Blavatnik bought the company in May of 2011 the company was valued at $3.3B. The market cap today is $17.2B. In eleven years, Cooper’s leadership drove over a 5x valuation of WMG and 2x the company’s revenue.
“My boy MC Serch, nevertheless…took me to Columbia, back then CBS…”~Nas
A few weeks back, MC Serch did an interview with Math Hoffa on his podcast, My Expert Opinion. During the podcast he broke down that he had received a 2% royalty for being an executive producer of Nas’s albums Illmatic and It Was Written. Recently he cashed out.
Using data from Luminate, I analyzed what his financial outcome might have been.
As it pertains to the multiples used, what’s interesting to note is this. Illmatic came out in 1994 and It Was Written came out in 1996. Based on the Copyright Act, the copyright reverts back to the owner after 35 years.
Illmatic has 7 years before it reverts back and It Was Written has 9 years. Keeping that in mind, I was generous in applying a 7x multiple to the value of Illmatic and a 9x multiple to the value of It Was Written. Most likely, MC Serch received much smaller multiples for his royalties from the buyer but there could be some more money overall when factoring in international sales.
Coming Soon…
The Bag’s 2022 End of the Year download
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