We’ve told you before to keep an eye on Switzerland-headquartered fintech company Utopia Music.
To be honest with you, even we’re not 100% sure what they’re building right now, but it looks like it’s going to be big.
Today (October 29), the company has acquired Nashville-based financial services company, Lyric Financial, which has advanced over $100 million worth of royalties to artists.
This news marks Utopia’s second company acquisition in the past two months, after buying Quincy Jones-backed emotional data enrichment company, Musimap in September.
Senior industry whispers keep on telling us that Utopia has a serious warchest to spend.
We’ve heard that the company already has tens of millions of dollars at its disposal and could even be raising a nine-figure sum as you read this.
Utopia is also on a hiring spree. At the start of September, the firm made the high-profile appointment of Downtown‘s former EVP of Business Development, Roberto Neri, as Chief Operating Officer, followed by other big hires including Paul Gathercole as Chief Data Officer, Åsa Carild as Head of Platform, and Paul Stuart as Chief Legal Officer.
Founded in 2007 and based in Nashville, Lyric has a presence in several states across the US. The company was founded by Eli Ball.
Utopia says that Lyric Financial’s existing operations enable its own expansion into the United States, widening the combined company’s global reach and market access.
Likewise, by joining forces with Utopia, Lyric Financial says that it now gains “competitive advantage, strength, and optimized market positioning in the rapidly growing music technology market that enables faster payments for Creator Rights”.
Utopia, which employs more than 170 people across offices located in Zug, London, Helsinki and Stockholm, says it’s on a mission to revolutionize the monitoring of music consumption – and consequent royalty payments to rights-holders – worldwide.
The company claims to be building a technology platform that “brings a completely new approach to serving all music industry needs and to enable accounting, transparency and efficiency, repairing the fragmented industry along the way”.
Lyric Financial will continue to service its existing customer base as part of Utopia.
“The acquisition of Lyric Financial represents yet another milestone on our journey of becoming the leading financial services provider and growth partner in music.”
Mattias Hjelmstedt, Utopia Music
Mattias Hjelmstedt, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Utopia Music, said: “The acquisition of Lyric Financial represents yet another milestone on our journey of becoming the leading financial services provider and growth partner in music.
“We are supercharging the entire music industry by creating new revenue streams, consolidating data, reducing administration costs, and offering a broad spectrum of diverse and deeply innovative services and effectively removing roadblocks and showstoppers that have slowed the industry down for too long.
“Acquiring Lyric Financial is a key enabler in helping creators and performers get paid faster and enable more creators and performers to make a living off their art.”
“The Utopia platform and their superlative data asset are putting us miles ahead of the pack. I could not be more excited!”
Eli Ball, Lyric Financial
Eli Ball, CEO of Lyric Financial, added: “Our team has already made a lasting difference for creators and performers.
“Yet, by partnering with Utopia, we will supercharge our mission to help creators and performers around the world with revolutionary finance solutions.
“The Utopia platform and their superlative data asset are putting us miles ahead of the pack. I could not be more excited!”
Music Business Worldwide