Firebird, the music and artist management company, is getting into the intellectual property acquisition business, the company confirmed Tuesday, announcing a $750 million acquisition fund with investment firm Ares and advisory fund Raine Group.
The two companies confirmed that Ares is investing directly in Firebird as part of the new partnership as well, with Ares Director Jeevan Saju joining the Firebird board.
“This is an exciting chapter for Firebird,” Firebird CEO Nathan Hubbard said in a statement. “Through the invaluable Ares partnership and expanding our longstanding relationship with Rain, we can advance the level of support we provide to artists and are positioned to deepen partnerships within and beyond our ecosystem.”
Firebird CEO Nat Zilkha added: “We created this platform to expand the ways we partner with artists, building on the trust Firebird has earned as stewards of their creative work. Through this investment, Firebird will help artists capture value for their recorded music and publish catalogs while leveraging the power of the Firebird ecosystem to drive new growth and discovery for their music.”
Firebird has grown rapidly since its founding in 2022. Companies in its portfolio include major music management companies including Red Light Management and Mick Management, record labels such as Transgressive Records and Defective Records and music festival All Things Go.
Firebird joins the competitive market for music rights. The Big Three music labels have created ventures alongside venture capital firms over the past several years; UMG took a minority stake in Chord Music Partners in 2024, while Warner Music Group announced a $1.2 billion partnership with Bain Capital last year. (The WMG/Bain venture spent more than $300 million to acquire the master rights to the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalog.) Meanwhile, Sony Music announced a deal with Singapore’s GIC earlier this year as well.
In a statement, Ares’s Sagoo said “We believe Firebird’s innovative platform helps artists build longer-lasting, more impactful and more profitable careers by investing in intellectual property.”
“We are excited to join Raine to provide broad capital and deep investment experience in music and entertainment to support their work with artists and their long-term growth,” he said.
