Trapital

Investors have poured more money into music than ever before. Music as an asset class if hotter than ever,. But the public markets have discounted the value of music companies:

UMG stock is currently trading near its all-time low

WMG trades at a discount on its earnings relative to UMG

RSVR is going through a takeover attempt

Several publicly traded music companies have been taken off the public markets

This is a huge disparity, and it was time to explain why.

In this solo episode, I break down this paradox. We will also connect the dots to real estate, the post-2021 repricing, and why more take-private attempts may be ahead.

CHAPTERS

00:10 Private vs Public Money in Music

07:26 Similarities in Music

08:19 2021 Reset

15:10 WMG and UMG

24:02 What’s Ahead

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Linktree: Share music, sell merch, and connect with fans on one simple link. Linktree is the #1 link in bio tool that musicians and artists use to connect fans to everything they do.

TRAPITAL

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Sphere Entertainment is now profitable, Wizard of Oz was a hit, and more locations are coming. Has the business turned the corner, or are there still question marks?

In this episode, I’m joined by Tati Cirisano, MIDiA Research, to assess where Sphere Entertainment stands in 2026. We unpack the company’s narrative, scalability, residencies, challenges, and more.

CHAPTERS

01:34 Is It Really Profitable?

10:01 The Concert Residency Model

14:58 Sphere Expansion Plans

22:33 Novelty Risk

26:07 Does Sphere Have a Comp?

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TRAPITAL

Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.

In music right now, the winners aren’t just the artists with the biggest audiences, they’re the teams that control the infrastructure.

First, I sit down with Mag Rodriguez, CEO and co-founder of EVEN, to break down how Even became a key part of J. Cole’s The Fall Off rollout, from exclusive drops and direct-to-fan sales to tour presales and fan community features designed to keep people coming back.

Then, I’m joined by Lior Tibon, CEO and co-founder of Duetti, to unpack the financial plumbing behind catalog deals: how Duetti raised $200M, why equity and debt get used differently, and how data, underwriting, and marketing operations power the rights-acquisition machine.

CHAPTERS:

04:27 Why J. Cole Uses EVEN

10:16 EVEN-UMG Deal, Explained

16:49 Clearing the Rumors

32:30 Duetti’s Equity vs. Debt Stack

33:34 What a typical Duetti deal looks like

38:38 Catalog Marketing Playbook

SPONSORSChartmetric: Listen in for our Stat of the Week
Linktree: Share music, sell merch, and connect with fans on one simple link. Linktree is the #1 link in bio tool that musicians and artists use to connect fans to everything they do.

TRAPITAL

Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.

For the past 20 years, subscription streaming has produced an outcome that still gets overlooked. The category winners weren’t the big tech giants or the major studios. In music, Spotify became the default. In premium video, Netflix did the same.

In this episode, we break down how pure-play focus, faster decision-making, and a single retention-driven scoreboard create compounding advantages that big tech’s money and bundling can’t easily copy.

CHAPTERS

01:03 Why Spotify and Netflix Succeeded

06:13 Pure-Play Edge

10:36 Speed & Ownership

14:29 Survivorship Reality

SPONSORS

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Symphonic: Distribute your music to one of the largest networks in the industry. Symphonic delivers your music to over 200 digital service providers ensuring that you’re monetizing every stream and use of your music on Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, and more

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Where technology shapes culture. New episodes and memos every week. Sign up here for free.