In the chaotic, often opaque ecosystem of the modern music business, the most disruptive players aren’t the ones signing the biggest pop stars to multi-album deals. They are the ones rewriting the source code of how the industry operates. Enter Create Music Group (CMG). Founded in 2015 by Jonathan Strauss and Alexandre Williams, this Los Angeles-based company has rapidly evolved from a scrappy startup recovering lost YouTube royalties into a $1 billion “unicorn” that is aggressively consolidating the global electronic music landscape. 1
To put it simply, imagine the traditional music industry as a dusty, old-fashioned bank that only balances its books twice a year. You deposit your hard work—your songs—but you have no idea how much money you’ve actually earned until a confusing paper statement arrives months later. Create Music Group has replaced that bank with a high-speed, digital trading floor. They built a system that watches the internet 24/7, counting every single time a song is played on YouTube or Spotify, and then—crucially—they pay the artist immediately, often within days. If traditional labels are landlines, CMG is the smartphone: a piece of infrastructure that makes the old way of doing business look hopelessly obsolete. 2
By fusing this high-frequency financial liquidity with a voracious appetite for intellectual property, CMG is building something that looks less like a traditional record label and more like the financial infrastructure for the creator economy. Through a blistering run of acquisitions in 2024 and 2025—swallowing the catalogs of deadmau5, Monstercat, Cr2, and !K7—CMG has positioned itself as the dominant custodian of the genre most primed for the digital future.
Here is who they are, why they matter, and what their billion-dollar bet on electronic music means for the industry.
The Origin Story: Mining the Black Box
To understand Create Music Group’s current dominance, you have to understand its origin in the industry’s “black box.” A decade ago, the explosion of user-generated content on YouTube created a massive data gap. Millions of videos featured copyrighted music, but the metadata didn’t match the official databases, leaving millions of dollars in royalties unclaimed.
Strauss and Williams, armed with a background in mathematics and day trading rather than A&R, built a proprietary algorithm to find this money. Their pitch to artists was irresistible: “We found money you didn’t know you had.” In its first three years, the company recovered over $60 million for artists, fueled by the rising tide of hip-hop and EDM. This wasn’t just a service; it was a proof of concept. It proved that data, not just “ears,” could monetize music at scale.
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Why It Matters: The “Fintech-ization” of Music
CMG matters because it treats music rights as liquid financial assets. In an industry where artists often wait months to see a royalty check, CMG introduced Daily Payments. By using their data to predict earnings, they offered artists access to their money almost as soon as it was generated.
This shift from a quarterly to a daily economy fundamentally changes an artist’s leverage. It reduces reliance on predatory advances from major labels, allowing independent musicians to cash flow their own tours and production. In 2021, they took this a step further with Create Carbon, a credit card that allows artists to borrow against their projected royalty streams—effectively banking the unbanked “middle class” of the music world.
The 2025 Blitz: Consolidating the Electronic Underground
While CMG built its war chest on hip-hop (working with the likes of Migos and Tekashi 6ix9ine), its strategy in 2025 shifted decisively toward electronic music. This wasn’t a random drift; it was a calculated macro-economic bet. Electronic music travels globally without language barriers, streams heavily on gaming platforms, and is the native audio of the metaverse.
In a span of twelve months, CMG executed a series of high-profile acquisitions that reshaped the independent sector:
1. The deadmau5 Mega-Deal (March 2025) In a move valued at over $55 million, CMG acquired the catalog of Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5) and his label, mau5trap. The deal included master recordings and publishing for over 4,000 songs. Crucially, this wasn’t a retirement cash-out. It established a Joint Venture to release future music, signaling to the industry that CMG was a partner for active careers, not just a graveyard for old hits. 3
2.!K7 Music (April 2025) Following the passing of founder Horst Weidenmüller, CMG acquired the legendary Berlin-based group !K7 Music. This gave them control over the iconic DJ-Kicks mix series and a robust infrastructure in Europe, further cementing their hold on dance music culture history.
3. Monstercat (May 2025) Perhaps the most forward-looking acquisition was Monstercat, the Canadian label synonymous with the gaming world (Rocket League, Fortnite). CMG didn’t just buy the catalog; they committed an additional $50 million to invest in the label’s growth. Monstercat’s model—allowing Twitch streamers to use their music without copyright strikes—aligns perfectly with CMG’s “creator first” ethos. 4
4. Cr2 Records (December 2025) Closing out the year, CMG snapped up Cr2 Records, a staple of the house music scene. This deal included Sample Tools by Cr2, a division that sells sound packs to producers. This gives CMG a foothold in the B2B side of music creation—owning not just the songs, but the sounds used to make the songs. 5
The Engine Room: Circuit Capital
Funding this aggression is Circuit Capital, a $500 million investment vehicle launched in November 2025. Partnering with The Circuit Group—a management collective led by deadmau5’s manager Dean Wilson and other industry heavyweights—this fund represents a “manager-led” approach to rights acquisition. Unlike private equity firms that view songs purely as yield-bearing assets, Circuit Capital leverages the operational machinery of CMG to actively work the catalogs they buy, promising “long-term sustainable value” rather than a quick flip. 6
The Verdict
Create Music Group is betting that the future of music isn’t about the Top 40 charts, but about the long tail of global streaming, gaming, and digital interaction. By consolidating the fragmented electronic music market, they are building a vertical monopoly on the soundtrack of the internet. For the independent artist, they offer a seductive alternative to the major label system: the financial tools to remain independent, backed by the muscle of a billion-dollar corporation. In 2026, CMG isn’t just distributing music; they are banking it.
- https://createmusicgroup.com/news/create-music-group-at-1-billion-valuation-raises-165-million-investment-round ↩︎
- https://tipalti.com/resources/customer-stories/create-music-group/ ↩︎
- https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/create-music-group-acquires-deadmau5-and-mau5trap-records-catalogs-in-55m-deal/ ↩︎
- https://www.recordoftheday.com/news-and-press/create-music-group-acquires-independent-label-monstercat-expanding-global-reach-in-electronic-music-and-gaming ↩︎
- https://createmusicgroup.com/news/create-music-group-acquires-uk-dance-label-cr2 ↩︎
- https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/500m-music-investment-fund-launched-by-the-circuit-group-backed-by-create-music-group/ ↩︎
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