… is to offer up to 50% ownership of Copyrights and Master Recording rights on Song level to investors that is financially and emotionally invested in new high quality modern day Music from the vast catalogue of brand new original radio/playlist friendly hopeful ‘hit’ songs from a true innovative 2024 global Pop Brand. (Launch Q4 2024)
“You can find people that don’t like movies or watch television or read books or read newspapers – But bring me someone that doesn’t like some form of music.”
Lucian Grainge, CEO Universal Music, September 2024
A chance to own a piece of a song.
by investing investors are not just buying a share in a song they are buying into a vision, a truly innovative way of doing the business of music, fiercly independent in spirit with the very quality of the songs in its DNA. The scope of the global music industry is huge with a unbelievable potential. With every stream, every play, every sync deal (TV, Series, Advertisment), every concert performance, investors will see a return of investment, recieving a share of the revenue generated directly tied to the ownership stake.
- Only ten shares of 5% ownership each are available. This exclusivity means a limited number of people will share in the song’s success.
- Potential for High Returns – The music is growing at a very fast speed, streaming and digital sales at an all-tiem high. The right pop songs, the radio and playlist friendly ‘single’ type song can literally earn millions, investors will be part of that journey. This is a unique opprtunity to join the early stages and what could be a very big thing.
How it works
1. Choose a song you really like
2. Read the ’story’ and the initial plan for the song
3. Choose to invest in the copyright ( the composition ) or in the master ( the recording )
4. Ve a first or second mover to get a price reduction or buy one ( or more ) of the remaining shares
5. Receive the share certificat and the song memorabilia
6. Earn revenue
THAT’S IT!
Key Points
bySaabye is to offer up to 50% ownership of Copyrights and Master Recording rights on Song Level in shares of 5% at low cost
bySaabye owns 100% copyrights and master recordings of a vast catalogue of brand new original radio/playlist friendly potential ‘hit’ songs
the song catalogue grows with 2 new compositions a week
creates new original songs for both own and establish global artists on demand
100% independent 360 degrees entertainment entity with a true global reach
CONTENTS
- bySaabye Invest
- Video trailer
- Q3 2024 song highligths
- A chance to own a piece of a song.
- How it works
- Key Points
- Introduction and background
- Business Model Overview
- 1. Ownership and Share Division
- 2. Valuation of a Song
- 3. Cost per Share
- 4. Revenue Distribution
- Q&A
- How do bySaabye plan to realise the bySaabye Brand?
- How is the distribution going to function?
- How will the investments made by investors in song shares work practically?
- Will the products (recordings) be both digital and physical?
- What are the risks for song share investors?
- What is the outlook for ROI?
- How is PR and Marketing planned?
- Terms and Conditions
- 1. Definition of ownership
- 2. Revenue Sharing
- 3. Duration of Ownership
- 4. Transferability of Shares
- 5. Governance and Voting Rights
- 6. Recoupment of initial investment
- 7. Exit Strategy
- 8. Transparency
- Example Songs
- Appendix
- 1. Copyright and Master Recording explained
- 2. Spotify Numbers
- 3. Sync
- 4. Bundles
- Saabye
Introduction and background
Music is everywhere and people listen to music more than ever before. With the arrival of streaming, music is always with listeners, you take it with you wherever you go, right there in the pocket. When Spotify started out in the Nordics around the latter half of the 2000’s it re-ignited the whole idea of music consumption that migrated from one-time purchase to paid monthly subscriptions. Today with Spotify being the largest platform there are hundreds of others… Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube etc. Alone Spotify paid out 6 Billion Dollars in 2023 alone to artists and rights holders. A rule of thumb is that while Spotify holds a 33% market share for subscribers they are paying out 25% of the total streaming revenue, thats a whopping 24 Billion Dollars a year, and that keeps groing year on year.
Now what has it to do with the bySaabye Music Brand? Starting by what matters most… simply providing great music. Without new music there simply would not be a music industry. New songs and new artists. What is the most valuable asset in the music ecosystem? the rights! Copyrights ( the rights to the compositions ) and the Master Rights ( the rights to the recording of the song ). Without the large catalogues of songs and being right-holders there simply would not be a Universal, Sony or Warners. That and the very artist.
With bySaabye the very core is these IPs, the ownership of copyrights and the master rights. Every time a song is played there are payments to the right-holders, every single time, year after year after year.
Why not have bySaabye signing to a major label in some form? The majors are great for major artists that needs huge global teams, they can like no other push the button that can catapult an artist into superstardom, but these are very few and they get less and less attention. Where pre-streaming they had total control all way from recording, that was very expensive all way to the record shops in form of distribution. All this changed with Spotify. They actually know nothing more that the smallest little record label, or even individual) in how to have a successful record. What the do have is to amplify the reach massively.
bySaabye is about creating a never seen before, unique, high quality music ecosystem that can compete with the biggest stars of today in an highly innovative fashion while keeping focused on where the real values are for both monitization and artistery. Be an artist centric independent force that play ball with the established music ecosystem. Have records that sits along both the biggest and most exciting talent there are.
A lot of music today is designed and targeted at youth, the reality is that young people also is into social media, gaming and so on. Where does this leave the more mature music lovers? they do not like youthful music very music and do not connect with the artists well under their own age. Lot of their heroes are now well into their 60s, 70s and 80s and do not often create new material that can be compared with their greatest work. This is what bySaabye has in its DNA, its has been prooved again and again during the start-up phase, the fans are all ages! say mid-20s up.
The ultimate goal of bySaabye is to be a global music entertainment brand with a sizeable and ever-growing catalogue of great songs and recording that it owns both the copyrights and the master rights to, have a great income from these rights, to turn into a global brand of music entertainment, have great lives-hows, provide hopeful hit records for established global artists that are always on the lookout of hit songs. Add to this art and music merchandise in various forms.
bySaabye is striving to be highly professional in operation, someone that is respected in the industry as a provider of great music that can compete with the very best.
Business Model Overview
1. Ownership and Share Division
bySaabye is to offer up to 50% ownership of Copyrights and Master Rights on Song level from the bySaabye Catalogue. The 50% ownership is divided in 10 shares, each representing 5% of the ownership. The pricing of each share is set with a rising purchase price, where the first is 5.000 dKr (minus first mover reduction at 20%), the second 5.000 dKr (minus second mover reduction at (10% ) and the following eight at 5.000 dKr. The final 9th and 10th share has an added 10% and 20% added to the share price, ie. 5.500 dKr and 6.000 dKr.
2. Valuation of a Song
It is obviously very difficult setting a price for a yet to be released Song, so the share price is reflecting a very low conservative estimate of the songs value, far below how it would estimated by the music industry.
Factors includes costs, expected revenue from global streaming from hundreds of streaming platforms… Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon… to downloads, licensing deals, live performances and other potential revenue streams.
As of September 2024 songs are set at a very (low) and conservative value, 100.000 dKr for the Copyrights (the Composition) and 100.000 for the Master Rights. ( see appendix 1. for a full overview of Copyright and Master Rights.
3. Cost per Share
50% ownership of a song is up for sale and as each share represents 5%, there are 10 shares available. The cost per share is:
Copyrights:
the song value / 50% available / number of shares.
100.000 / 2 / 10 = 5.000 dKr
4. Revenue Distribution
Investors will receive an amount of the song’s revenue based on their ownership %. A share of 5% will receive 5% of all revenue generated by a song. Let’s assume that a song has generated 200.000 dKr in a 3 month financial Quarter, then a 5% share will have generated 200.000 / 100 * 5 = 10.000 dKr.
Q&A
How do bySaabye plan to realise the bySaabye Brand?
the plan to realise reach a number of milestones, however it is important to understand that to create something at this level of ambitions in large parts the success should be let organic, not formulaic.
the first thing to do is (was) to create a sizeable of could be ‘hit-songs’ , songs that are radio/streaming friendly and that could break into the ‘charts’. bySaabye is not an album type business, it’s about crafting memorable stand-alone songs with a unique sound to it overall, songs that are instantly recognisable. That first milestone has been reached, there is a song catalogue that numbers north of of 100. Naturally with a 100% ownership of copyrights and master recording rights.
1. Defining a ‘sound’ – V (ticked)
2. Composing and Recording a sizeable song catalogue – V (ticked)
3. Defining the ‘look’ ie. the visual identity of the brand – V (ticked )
4. Building a catalogue of online content online ( video, pictures, articles ) – V (ticked)
5. Reserving and gain experience with the string of most populular social media platforms – V (ticked)
6. Rehearsing a live configuration that can take it to live entertainment circuit – V (ticked)
the next milestones
7. Start releasing songs at a steady and frequent pace
8. Promote the song releases extensively
9. Supply established and new promising talent with hopeful ‘hit-songs’
10. Organise successful live shows ( there are two in pre-production )
11. Introduce merchandise (clothing, art, memorabilia etc. )
How is the distribution going to function?
Distributing music in 2024 is the easy part. There are a large number of services that distributes to all the streaming platforms very effectively and at a very low cost. There is a next layer, artist and label services, that against a cut of revenue, have teams in place that will help with strategy and promotion and finally there are the major labels that ‘signs’ artists and do most.
The idea is to build up at own pace, controlling at 100% releases schedules is great to begin with. It’s important to be able to be 100% independent in the beginning against having to plan months ahead. The lead times are simply too long. However this bring the whole PR and marketing aspect into the picture.
So the answer is to start with the first, growing into the second as the success grows.
How will the investments made by investors in song shares work practically?
The are several avenues of income to investors…
- Streaming revenue
- Sync revenue ( movies, tv-series, advertisements )
- Radio and TV
- Advances from song use by new or established talent
- Live (Copyright only)
and more..
There should be a professional statement quarterly statement and payment to song share owners respective on how that particular song has performed in the that quarter. These should at minimum be a communication channel that bring all news, sync placements, chart positions etc. It’s important that investors are getting excitement about a songs progress.
Will the products (recordings) be both digital and physical?
The release of music today is largely digital, except for vinyls that is more of super fan collectors items, so it will be digital yes.
Seen from the perspective of song share investors, how are bySaabye going to attract them?
It is thought that word of mouth should be the first port of call, people that are friends of friends of friends, bySaabye is seeking investors that has a heart in there, for the love of music, for the excitement to be part of something truely innovative and naturally except a ROI.
What are the risks for song share investors?
None really, it is written into the terms and conditions, that investor can get their initial investment back minus the payments already received back after 12 or 18 months if they have not broken even. The shares can also be sold on to market value.
What is the outlook for ROI?
anything from 2*4 times to initial investment to rather large if a song become even a medium size hit. With a hit record the sky could be the limit.
How will the deals be with both established artists and new talent be formed?
standard professional deals and agreements, established stars are not signed to bySaabye, they will work with their record labels, bySaabye only supply the songs and eventually the production.
How is PR and Marketing planned?
it’s no secret that the arrival of digital – with streaming and social media has turned pretty much everything on its head and that includes absolutely PR and Marketing of Music.
The ways to go about PR and Marketing up until the 2000’s is if not completely void then in last parts not relevant in todays media landscape. Sometimes its hard to imagine times before Youtube, Facebook and Instagram and lately TikTok… times where publications such as NME, Smash Hits, Billboard and Rolling Stone magazine were instrumental in breaking music.
There’s been much talk about a hugely saturated tech environment, where small independent actors have zero to no chance of cutting though the noise. People tend to forget that Google, Meta and the rest a companies with the eye firm of monetization and no real interest in the art-world.
However, digital is where it all happens, no other medium can spread the word within minutes globally such as showing a video to a select group of potential fans across the planet. However the idea of doing it for free is obviously naive. However for very little cost it is more than possible to reach out, by targeting carefully, the right group of people, the right continents, countries, cities etc. That’s what social media is good at.
bySaabye is a true global imprint, all music is in English, always, and the style of music, mainstream Pop (25 upwards) is the most listened to alongside HipHop. So it is very much digital campaigns that is in focus.
EVERY SINGLE SONG RELEASE SHOULD HAVE A WELL-THOUGHT CAMPAIGN, a mood-board of ideas and be fully open to new avenues. No campaign is the same, and the best of campaigns evolves during the execution.
Key points…
1. Have an overall strategy in place for the bySaabye Brand and raise awareness of the brand in a slow constant manner.
2. Every song release should have its very own campaign strategy. No songs are the same, the differences in songs can target very different groups of potential fans, different brand partners ( more about that later ), different parts of the world etc.
3. In this, the very fast world of digital and social media it does not make sense to tease in advance with new releases with ad-campaigns, people expects to be able to be one click away to dive into something when they see it. So never do promotions before a song is available.
4. The ROI of investment in marketing digital releases is not great at all, as is most marketing in arts, in music the return for streams is far lower than the cost of promoting.
The plan is to release would-like-to-be hit singles at fast pace, once a week, every second week. The very first release, slated before Christmas 2024, should contain some very good songs and build a body of work to stand on. What is wanted is that when people come across a song they like, by whatever means, they should be able to discover more immediately.
let assume the release of the song ‘Lets Celebrate Life’ and a possible Campaign scenario.
The song is upbeat, catchy, danceable, feel-good etc. Its part of the #DESKO Volume 6 compilation, the #DESKO GrandPrix, a nod to the EUROVISION, and who knows, maybe one of the songs could find itself involved in ways?
There is a list of questions that can point to the profile of the campaign.
Who could be potential fans?
What age groups?
What continents/countries?
Who could be an eventually commercial brand partner? Soft-drink, sports team, fashion? the list is long…
Should there be a video to drive the campaign? or is a simple lyric video enough?
Should it be driven by social media with social media posts?
Should it be driven radio?
Could the song suit a commercial/advertisements?
the list is long…
In the above example one way to go about it could be:
People interested in fashion, high end pop, mid 20’s up, maybe more women than men, with the capitals, Paris, Rome, London, New York up first but with fashion globally, tap into the Gucci brand nature of the song. Gucci could be an obvious media partner for advertisements/shows ( and THAT would be in a major payment to the right holders) , a great looking video for youtube would make real sense as would a social media driven campaign, with lots of small Instagram styled short videos on youtube (shorts), instagram (reels), tik-toketc. Radio is maybe not first port of call and could be considered later.
Campaigns start the day of the release and all content is well prepared, there will press-release, articles/interviews, social media posts, both pictures and videos. There will be a budget for paid campaigns to get the thing going.
Terms and Conditions
Terms and conditions on agreements
1. Definition of ownership
Includes a right to a life-time portion of revenues. The veto rights on song uses like type of commercials and movies is controlled by bySaabye.
2. Revenue Sharing
Calculation of revenue streams, distribution of and investor payments. Frequency of payments from the various revenue streams differ, however investors will receive a quarterly report of the songs performance on the various entities. ( appendix 3. ) Payments will follow the revenue streams own payment frequency ( monthly, quarterly. annually ) but always with a quarterly statement.
3. Duration of Ownership
The duration is perpetuity (life-time) and does not expire after a certain period both for copyrights and master ownership.
4. Transferability of Shares
Shares can be sold or transferred by the investors at an open price. bySaabye has the right of first purchase but excercise no rights of first refusals.
5. Governance and Voting Rights
All governance and thus voting rights is solely at bySaabye discretion in regard of decisions impacting the song’s use, distribution, licensing etc.
6. Recoupment of initial investment
If the song does not generate the expected revenue within a 18 months period from the official release date, there is a recourse to recoup their initial investment in full subtracted the amount already paid out. If a song share at 5% has generated 4.000 dKr in the initial 18 months period the could be a 1.000 dKr payment if the investor wish to sell back.
7. Exit Strategy
If bySaabye wish to do splits with a third part ( music publishers or catalogue byuers) with the 50% part this will not affect the investors. There could eventually be tabled a buy out offer to the investors but there is no obligation to sell.
8. Transparency
The communication with investors is clear and regular. Monthly updates on song performance, new licensing deals and all other revenue-generating activities
Example Songs
In this, the first batch of new (2024) original songs to be offered as shared copyright and/or master recording ownerships to investors are all what could be labeled as radio/streaming friendly ‘singles’, global songs that has real potential to work its way up to be career defining and certainly hopeful hits. The represent in ways the sonic palette of bySaabye pretty well, adult contemporary art pop for both grown ups and a younger (mid-20’s) onwards segment.
There is up to 50% ownerships of copyright and master recording rights available to investors.
She Likes Gucci Too (2024)
is a lush fashion mediterranean vibe mid-tempo type of song that have potential to be a near perfect match for the Gucci label, both in partnership with in form of sync via advertising and as stand-alone single.
Taboo (2024)
is a 80’s UK electronic throwback, very much up at the moment, as it has been for very long now. It’s taps into the very large fanbases of electronic darker synth pop. Fits both as a standalone single, part of an album, radio/playlists.
Is This the Weekend (2024)
is a younger segment EDM type of song, an anthem suitable for both clubs, sports stadiums and everything in between. ITTW is the type of song that easily go find itself in many different mixes, often done by DJ’s and remixers.
Appendix
1. Copyright and Master Recording explained
the COPYRIGHTS is for the original recording and ALL subsequent recordings by other artists.
Revenue streams:
streaming – radio/TV – advertisements – LIVE
during the lifetime of the song (including cover versions)
copyright has a 16% share from streaming on ALL recordings from all artists
the MASTER RECORDING is for the original recording only and all subsequent recordings from the same artist.
Revenue streams:
streaming – radio/TV – advertisements – physical copies (CD/Vinyls) etc
master recordings has a 50% share from streaming from the one original recording.
2. Spotify Numbers
For every stream Spotify pay as follows:
- 33.3% to Spotify
- 50% to MASTER OWNERS
- 16% to COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
- SPOTIFY IS THE WORLDS BIGGEST MUSIC STREAMING PLATFORM SPOTIFY GENERATED 14B USD REVENUE IN 2023AND HAVE TO DATE PAID 48B USD TO RIGHTHOLDERS SINCE 2028
- SPOTIFY PAID OVER 9B USD TO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY (RIGHT HOLDERS) IN 2023
- MUSIC REVENUE BY FORMAT
- STREAMING 83%
- DIGITAL 4%
- SYNCH 2%
- PHYSICAL 11%
- MARKET SHARE
- Spotify 33%
- Apple Music 15%
- YouTube 13%
- Amazon 12%
Spotify Payment Examples…
Spotify counts for approx. 25% of total streaming income from 150+ streaming platforms – so totals should be multiplied by 4
How many streams will it get during its life cyclus? with streaming there is no end dates, there’s only a start date, they are not taken down the shelves after a little while, they are there forever. A good example is that Kate Bush track that suddenly exploded after over 30 years because of a TV series last year.
below is a typical example for Spotify only. Spotify counts as a rule of thumb for 25% of revenue from streaming, the remaining 75% arriving from the remaining 150+ DSPs (streaming platforms), so multiply the number with 4
A song on Spotify that get 100.000 streams pays the right holders (in USD)
Denmark 515 USD
Europe 331 USD
Worldwide 238 USD
and 1.000.000
Denmark 5150 USD
Europe 3310 USD
Worldwide 2380 USD
and 10.000.000
Denmark 51500 USD
Europe 33100 USD
Worldwide 23800 USD
Spotify pays the copyright holders (the composition) 16% so that all versions of the song, including covers by as many artists that make a version of the song. They pay the Master Recording holders (the owners of this recording only, not cover recordings) 50%.
As an example 1 Million streams in Denmark only will pay per 5% copyright share
5150 / 100 * 16 / 20 * 5 ( * 4 ) = 824 USD
total Spotify divided by 100 times 16% copyright share multiplied by 5 to get 5% , times 4 to include all DSPs
! Alone a relatively small streaming number ( 1 million ) already exceeds the 5% share purchase price.
3. Sync
Sync is when music is used to sync to Film, Tv series, Advertisements
- 1. TV and Online shows
- 2. Advertisements
- 3. video games
- 4. Apps
- 5. Movies
- 6. Documentaries, biopics and short films
Sync licensing, short for ‘synchronization licensing’ is the legal process of ensuring that music creators and rights-holders are compensated for the use of their work in visual media.
Sync licensing requires clearance from the owners of two distinct aspects of music copyrights – (i) composition (song lyrics and music) and (ii) masters (song audio recording), both of whom typically receive a one-time, up-front licensing fee.
Avarage fees in shows ranges from 5-10K USD, 5K – 50K USD FOR advertising.
Sync is unique in the way that fees are 100% negotiable. it is estimated that globally there is 1.000.000 requests and uses for music.
Is it a buyout? , how well a fit is the song?, has it been a hit, has it been used before, what countries?, length of ad-campaign and etc.
A typical use in a Tv series in Europe could include a 10.000 – 50.000 EURO fee to right holders, could be royalty payments for each use, could be very large for large scale ad-campaigns…
Radio/Tv play also generates copyrights payments, but is complicated.
Covers by established artists IF the song has already been released only generates copyrights not master recordings rights, but with an eastblished ( or label based new-cover ) they can run into many 100.000s.
An un-released song taken by an established artist would generate a usually large sign-on advance fee upfront.
4. Bundles
Bundles are packages of typical four Songs from the same series, songs that glue together, and that together form a Copyright shared ownership on very favourable terms, with a high share cut, against an investment in both the development and subsequent releases. Terms are defined on an individual basis but centers around a bigger long term investment against a life-long royalty share in the Songs in the bundle. There is also an option to reverse the investment and get re-paid part of the investment after a period of time.
Bundle Overviews including Audio
about Saabye
Saabye is a certified European hit-maker that brides the gap between 70’s Disco, British 80’s and 2024 styled Mainstream-Pop. Within a short space of time, he went from virtually unknown provider of original new global pop compositions/productions to a string of artists to add fronting his own unique Brand of ArtPop, assembling a newly written song catalogue north of 100 with a style that combined with a distinct voice, with throwbacks to 80’s Bowie, for fans of pop music all ages. After the low-key releases of the first tasters of his unique Disco brand #DESKO in 2023, he quickly moved to launch his very own Music Brand bySaabye, a 360 degrees 2024 styled Music Brand slated for for Autumn 2024 launch.
bySaaby€ – INVEST – by$aabye
Contact: bysaabye@gmail.com