In an industry filled with household names and viral news bites, the most significant music business transactions of 2025 had all the excitement of an accounting seminar: Asset-backed securities (ABSs) and joint ventures for off-balance sheet investments accounted for half of the 10 largest music deals of the year.

Dry and complex financial engineering lacks the pizazz of, say, the world’s biggest pop star finally buying the rights to master recordings that twice sparked her outrage by being sold to other parties. Still, ABSs have been some of music’s biggest deals in recent years, and off-balance sheet transactions are an increasingly common way for major labels and publishers to add to their I.P. empires. Sometimes the unsexiest transactions are the most impactful ones.

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