What Buyers Ask Before They Buy a Music Catalog
If you're selling a music catalog, the buyer's team will request documentation across four categories: rights and legal, financial performance, market risk, and operational readiness. The 24-Point Due Diligence Checklist covers every item a serious acquirer will ask for. Having these ready before you start conversations shortens the deal timeline and signals that you're a credible seller.
Rights and Legal Documentation
This is where deals die. Buyers need clean chain-of-title for every composition, proof of copyright registration, and confirmation that there are no active disputes or liens. They'll want to see your publishing agreements, songwriter contracts, co-publishing splits, and any sync licenses that are active. If you have works registered at ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or international PROs, the registrations need to match your contracts. Gaps here create risk, and risk lowers your multiple.
Financial and Revenue Records
Expect to provide 3-5 years of royalty statements broken down by income type: mechanical royalties, performance royalties, sync fees, digital streaming revenue, and print. Buyers want to see the trend line. Growing streaming revenue from catalog titles is the strongest signal. They'll also want your net publisher share calculation, distribution agreements, and admin fee schedules so they can verify the net income independently.
Market and Operational Readiness
Beyond the financials, buyers assess your catalog's market position. Genre concentration, artist dependency, territorial coverage, and metadata quality all factor into the offer. Operationally, they want to know how collections are managed, who your admin publisher is, and how quickly the catalog can be migrated to their systems after closing.
Use this checklist to prepare every document before your first buyer meeting. Sellers who come prepared close faster and at higher multiples.