Is Concord About to Acquire Stem? — Leaks Are Wildly Divergent

Several trade publications are reporting that Concord is in talks with Stem for an acquisition—though those reports are wildly different. Here’s what we know so far.

Trade publications including Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Music Business Worldwide are all reporting that Concord is in advanced talks with Stem. The content of those talks is currently unknown, with each of these publications reporting wildly different details. THR says financial terms for the deal are as of yet unknown, while MBW reports that a $50 million deal is on the table. Sources speaking to THR call that figure “wildly inaccurate.”

Stem is a Los Angeles-based digital distributor that gives indie artists ownership of their works while retaining a distribution fee. Meanwhile, Nashville-based Concord controls a vast music catalog and publishing business, as well as classical music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. Concord also controls the catalog of Round Hill Music after a $450+ million acquisition in 2023. Billboard reports that Concord’s annual revenue is split roughly 50/50 between its publishing and recorded music divisions.

Stem raised $40 million in three fundraising rounds between 2017 and 2022. Since then, it has been looking for a strategic investor to provide more funding for artist advances. “Competition for artists seeking distribution deals has picked up enough that Stem ‘lost numerous deal historically as it wasn’t able to be competitive with advances,” Billboard reports a Stem pitch deck from 2024 states.

In 2023, Stem secured a $250 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital. But the terms of that credit line was ‘restrictive’ a source told Billboard. It required each artists’ project to recoup its own advance. “Music is a hit-driven business and you need to have capital that understands that and is willing to allow you take the risk across multiple projects, knowing that the overall portfolio will perform,” that source told Billboard.

Because of that, Stem is seeking equity investors rather than taking on more debt. Concord would make a good fit here as it has raised more than $3 billion from asset-backed securities led by Apollo Global Management. THR says the bidding for Stem has been highly competitive, with interest buyers including Sony Music, Warner Music Group, and Concord—which is currently distributed by Universal Music Group.

“No one’s doing the sort of deals anymore where the rights owner owns your master,” one insider source told THR. “Distribution is king in the race to be the fourth major.”

Last year Warner Music Group appeared to be interested in acquiring Believe, the French company that owns distributor TuneCore. However, WMG backed off from that potential acquisition and CEO Robert Kyncl said during a recent Morgan Stanley conference that WMG was interested in building its own distributor.