Musixmatch has acquired Music Reports, Inc., the Los Angeles-based company behind the Songdex copyright registry.
The deal, announced today (October 19), is the first acquisition in Musixmatch‘s 16-year history, according to the company.
Blokur, the London-based music data and licensing platform owned by Music Reports, also passes to Musixmatch.
Musixmatch described the acquisition as “its biggest step yet: transforming the company from a leader in lyrics and music data to a full-stack rights and royalties platform.”
The Bologna-based company says the deal will establish “the world’s most comprehensive registry of music copyright information.”
Financial terms were not disclosed. Financing for the transaction was provided by Tikehau Capital.
Musixmatch‘s acquisition aims to address growing pressure on music’s rights systems, as the industry grapples with AI’s impact on how music is created and used.
According to Musixmatch, “the systems used to identify music, track ownership, and distribute royalties were not built for today’s scale and complexity.”
“When recordings cannot be accurately matched to their underlying compositions and rightsholders, licenses may not be secured and royalty payments can be delayed or lost,” Musixmatch said.
“When recordings cannot be accurately matched to their underlying compositions and rightsholders, licenses may not be secured and royalty payments can be delayed or lost.”
Musixmatch
The combined business brings together Musixmatch‘s music intelligence technology and dataset, Music Reports’ Songdex registry, and Blokur‘s rights-matching technology.
Musixmatch will combine its data and technology with Songdex to create “a comprehensive metadata layer that connects recordings, compositions, and rights information across the global music ecosystem.”
Musixmatch claims the resulting data will give it “the most accurate music identification and rights matching in the industry.”
The company expects the Music Reports deal to make it “faster and simpler for anyone who creates, distributes, or uses music to establish who owns it, whether it is licensed, and to make sure the people behind it get paid.”
“Music is being created and used faster than the industry can track it, and AI is only accelerating the trend,” said Max Ciociola, Founder and CEO of Musixmatch. “When no one can identify who wrote a song, who owns it, or who should be paid, creators lose.
“Bringing Music Reports into Musixmatch unites two of the industry’s most trusted datasets on one platform.”
“Music is being created and used faster than the industry can track it, and AI is only accelerating the trend. When no one can identify who wrote a song, who owns it, or who should be paid, creators lose.”
Max Ciociola, Musixmatch
“Our goal is simple,” Ciociola continued. “Every use of music identified, every owner known, every creator paid.”
The acquisition extends Musixmatch‘s rights business beyond lyrics into mechanical, sync, print, and performance rights. The company says this makes it “a comprehensive rights-administration platform for the global music industry.”
The deal includes Music Reports’ Cuetrak software, which helps streaming services and broadcasters produce cue sheets for music used in audiovisual content.
Musixmatch says the combined platform will span rights administration, royalty processing, cue sheets, licensing, and lyrics. The company adds that the deal lays “the foundation for the next generation of agentic royalty management,” where AI agents “can identify, match, and reconcile music use continuously, with people in control.”
Musixmatch says it works with more than 250,000 rights owners and music publishers worldwide and nearly three million songwriters, as well as digital services including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon Music.
In an interview with MBW published last month, Ciociola said: “We have evolved into a kind of fintech company – our main job is processing royalties.”
“The focus now is becoming a multi-agent rights administration company, helping protect rightsholders, and helping songwriters protect their own work,” Ciociola added.
In October 2025, Musixmatch signed AI licensing deals with Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, and Warner Chappell Music, covering more than 15 million musical works. The agreements support the development of non-generative AI tools.
In March 2026, Musixmatch launched Sentinel, a real-time music copyright detection service for AI and user-generated content platforms.
AI music company Suno became Sentinel’s first customer in August.
In September, the company rolled out Musixmatch Pro for Labels, a hub for record companies to manage and distribute lyrics.
TPG Growth acquired a controlling stake in Musixmatch in July 2022.
Tikehau Capital previously secured senior financing for Musixmatch in July 2024.
Musixmatch and TPG also face a lawsuit from rival lyrics provider LyricFind, which claims that Musixmatch’s exclusive lyrics licensing agreement with Warner Chappell Music breaches US antitrust law. Musixmatch has said the claim is “without merit.”
Founded in 1995, Music Reports is based in Los Angeles, with operations in London and Nashville.
Private equity firm MidOcean Partners acquired Music Reports in 2020 from ABRY Partners and the company’s co-founders, Ronald Gertz and Douglas Brainin.
Music Reports went on to acquire Blokur in January 2024.
Evercore served as financial advisor to Musixmatch, while Ropes & Gray LLP, Reed Smith LLP, and Legance served as its legal counsel.Music Business Worldwide
