OPULOUS
MFT Collection Valuation
Buyback Methodology · Prepared March 5, 2026
Overview
This document explains how the current fair market value of each MFT music collection has been determined. These valuations are used to calculate the buyback price owed to collection holders as the underlying master recording catalogs are liquidated.
The methodology follows the same approach used across the professional music industry for catalog acquisitions, from Royalty Exchange secondary-market sales to institutional deals conducted by investment banks and music funds.
How Music Catalogs Are Valued
The Net Revenue Multiple Method
The music industry uses a single dominant approach to value catalogs:
Catalog Value = Last Twelve Months (LTM) Revenue x Multiple
This method is used by:
- Royalty Exchange, the largest secondary marketplace for music royalties ($200M+ in completed transactions)
- Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the publicly traded music catalog investment vehicle
- Round Hill Music, Primary Wave, Concord, major institutional buyers
- Investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley) advising on catalog sales
Revenue: Why We Use the Last Twelve Months
The valuation is based on LTM (Last Twelve Months) gross revenue, meaning the actual earnings generated by the catalog in the most recent trailing twelve-month period (2025).
This is the industry standard because it reflects the current earning power of the catalog. A buyer acquiring these rights today would expect to receive approximately this level of revenue in their first year of ownership.
Prior years (2022, 2023, 2024) are shown in the accompanying data for transparency, but they do not factor into the valuation formula. Historical data is used only to assess the trend (growing, stable, or declining), which informs multiplier selection.
The Multiple: What Determines It
The multiple reflects how many years of current revenue a buyer is willing to pay upfront. It is determined by:
- Dollar Age, a revenue-weighted measure of how old the catalog's earnings are
- Revenue trend, whether earnings are growing, stable, or declining
- Artist profile, how established the artist is, size of fanbase, streaming metrics
- Catalog composition, number of tracks, genre diversification, revenue concentration
- Deal term, lifetime/perpetual deals command higher multiples than limited-term deals
- Revenue scale, larger revenue bases attract more competitive bidding and higher multiples
Dollar Age: Measuring Catalog Maturity
Dollar Age is a metric developed by Royalty Exchange to capture where a catalog sits on the revenue decay curve. It is calculated as:
Dollar Age = Sum(Song Age x Song Revenue) / Sum(Song Revenue)
This produces a revenue-weighted average age. A catalog where most revenue comes from older songs has a higher Dollar Age, indicating proven longevity.
- Low Dollar Age (0-3 years): The catalog is very young. Revenue is likely still declining from its post-release peak. Higher risk that earnings will continue to drop.
- Medium Dollar Age (3-5 years): The catalog has survived the steepest part of the decay curve. Revenue is beginning to stabilize, but long-term floor is not yet confirmed.
- High Dollar Age (5+ years): The catalog has demonstrated staying power. Revenue has settled at a sustainable level. This supports a higher multiple.
Market Data: 75+ Royalty Exchange Transactions
To ensure the multipliers used are grounded in real market data, we analyzed 75+ completed transactions from Royalty Exchange's public deal records (2019-2026). The platform has completed over 2,300 deals totaling $200M+ in transactions, with an average yield of 13.3%.
Since the MFT collections represent lifetime ownership of master recordings, the most relevant comparables are Life of Rights deals.
Median Multiples by Dollar Age (Life of Rights Deals)
| Dollar Age | Deals Analyzed | Median Multiple | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-3 years | 7 | 3.68x | 3.03x - 10.43x |
| 3-5 years | 7 | 6.59x | 5.55x - 8.97x |
| 5-7 years | 12 | 6.58x | 5.20x - 10.46x |
| 7-10 years | 12 | 9.03x | 6.33x - 10.90x |
| 10+ years | 19 | 10.64x | 6.38x - 16.71x |
Sample Comparable Transactions
| Transaction | Type | LTM | Multiple | Dollar Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardi B "Bodak Yellow" | Sound Rec. | $14,799 | 3.68x | ~2.0 |
| Trey Songz | Sound Rec. | $9,614 | 8.69x | 8.26 |
| Brandon Beal | Sound Rec. | $25,304 | 9.41x | 10.72 |
| Justin Bieber & Maroon 5 | Sound Rec. | $64,332 | 13.91x | 10.69 |
| Khalid "Location" | Publishing | $50,905 | 10.90x | 9.23 |
| Lil Baby, 42 Dugg | Songwriter | $21,993 | 7.82x | 5.67 |
Why MFT Collections Are Valued Below Market Medians
The Royalty Exchange data establishes what the market pays for music catalogs. However, the MFT collections require a significant discount from those medians for three reasons:
1. Artist Scale and Recognition
The Royalty Exchange transactions involve major, recognizable artists: Cardi B, SZA, Khalid, NBA YoungBoy, Lil Baby, Jack Harlow, Trey Songz, and others. The MFT collections feature independent, emerging artists. While these artists have real talent and genuine streaming revenue, they do not have the brand recognition, playlist positioning, or cultural permanence that drives competitive bidding on platforms like Royalty Exchange.
2. Revenue Scale
The average LTM revenue for Royalty Exchange Life of Rights deals is approximately $15,000-$20,000 per year. The average LTM across the MFT collections is approximately $1,440 per year, roughly 10x smaller. Smaller revenue bases mean higher proportional transaction costs, less investor interest, and less competitive bidding.
3. Catalog Concentration
Most Royalty Exchange listings feature multi-artist or multi-album catalogs that spread risk. The MFT collections are predominantly single-artist, single-release catalogs with revenue concentrated in a small number of tracks.
Offsetting Factor: Lifetime Ownership
One favorable characteristic of the MFT collections is that they represent lifetime ownership (perpetual rights for the full copyright term) of the underlying master recordings. This is the strongest deal term available and directly comparable to "Life of Rights" deals on Royalty Exchange, which command the highest multiples.
Net Effect on Multipliers
The lifetime ownership premium and the indie/scale/concentration discounts roughly offset each other, resulting in multipliers approximately 45-62% below the Royalty Exchange Life of Rights medians:
| Dollar Age | MFT Multiple | RE Median (LoR) | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-2 years | 2.0x | 3.68x | ~46% |
| 2-5 years | 3.0x | 6.59x | ~54% |
| 5-10 years | 3.5x | 6.58x - 9.03x | ~55% |
| 10+ years | 4.0x | 10.64x | ~62% |
These discounted multipliers are appropriate because even Cardi B's sound recording, one of the biggest artists in the world, only achieved 3.68x at Dollar Age ~2. Our multiples sit well below the floor of what known artists achieve in each tier.
Collection Valuations
| Collection | Total MFTs | LTM Revenue | Dollar Age | Multiple | Valuation | Per MFT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Empyrean Collection | 15,000 | $4,829 | 7.9 yrs | 3.5x | $16,902 | ~$1.13 |
| Are You As Bored As I Am? | 10,000 | $1,154 | 3.0 yrs | 3.0x | $3,462 | ~$0.35 |
| Rush Hour | 10,000 | $3,294 | 3.0 yrs | 3.0x | $9,882 | ~$0.99 |
| Distorted Format | 5,000 | $415 | 3.0 yrs | 3.0x | $1,245 | ~$0.25 |
| All Around | 3,000 | $9 | 2.0 yrs | 2.0x | $18 | ~$0.01 |
| Bubbaloo | 5,000 | $86 | 3.0 yrs | 3.0x | $258 | ~$0.05 |
| Double Collection | 10,000 | $280 | 3.0 yrs | 3.0x | $840 | ~$0.08 |
| Vinyl Collection | 10,000 | $373 | 3.0 yrs | 3.0x | $1,119 | ~$0.11 |
| Queen of Wands | 15,000 | $2,714 | 5.6 yrs | 3.5x | $9,499 | ~$0.63 |
| Fashionably Late | 55,000 | $1,223 | 4.0 yrs | 3.0x | $3,669 | ~$0.07 |
| TOTAL | 138,000 | $14,377 | $46,894 | ~$0.34 |
Why Current Values Differ from Initial Sale Prices
Music catalog revenue follows a well-documented decay pattern that is universal across the industry:
- Year 0-1 (Release window): Peak revenue. The song benefits from promotional push, playlist placement, algorithmic boost, and social media momentum.
- Year 1-3 (Initial decay): Revenue typically declines 30-60% as the track rotates out of editorial playlists and algorithmic recommendations shift to newer releases.
- Year 3-5 (Stabilization): Revenue begins to flatten. Tracks that have developed a loyal listener base settle at a lower but more sustainable level.
- Year 5+ (Long tail): Revenue stabilizes at a "floor." Tracks with genuine staying power earn consistently at this level for years.
The MFT collections were initially offered when many of the underlying tracks were at or near their peak earning window. The initial pricing reflected revenue expectations from that peak period.
Since then, the natural decay process has occurred. This is not a failure of the catalog or the artist. It is the normal lifecycle of recorded music. Every catalog in the world, from The Beatles to the newest chart-topping release, follows this same pattern.
The current valuation reflects where these catalogs are today on the decay curve: past the initial peak, with revenue that has stabilized or is approaching stabilization.
Verification and Transparency
Revenue Data
All revenue figures are sourced directly from Ditto distribution reports, the distributor that processes streaming revenue for these master recordings. These are not estimates or projections. They are actual royalties collected and reported.
Multiplier Benchmarks
The comparable transactions referenced in this document are publicly available through Royalty Exchange (royaltyexchange.com), where music royalty catalogs are regularly bought and sold on the secondary market. Anyone can verify these transaction multiples independently.
Methodology Sources
- Royalty Exchange: Dollar Age methodology and secondary-market transaction data (2,300+ completed deals)
- Billboard / Duetti Music Finance Index (H1 2026): Industry-wide valuation benchmarks
- Creative Funding Agency: "How Music Catalogs Are Valued in 2026"
- Music Connection Magazine: "What's the Multiple?", industry analysis of catalog pricing
The total buyback obligation across all 10 collections is $46,894. Payouts are available to claim proportionally through the Rewards panel. Connect your wallet to claim your USDC before April 30, 2026.