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Reservoir Media
Golnar Khosrowshahi's Reservoir Media owns 150K-plus copyrights and counts Sheryl Crow and Joni Mitchell among its catalog acquisitions.
Reservoir Media
Reservoir Media was founded in 2007 by Golnar Khosrowshahi, who serves as CEO and chairs the board. The firm was established as a music publishing and rights management company, culminating in a public listing through a merger with a SPAC in July 2021 that made it the first female-led publicly traded independent music company in the United States. Khosrowshahi's family background includes ties to the diversified conglomerate built by her father, Iranian businessman Hassan Khosrowshahi, though Reservoir was built independently as a focused music-asset vehicle. Reservoir's strategy centers on acquiring and managing music intellectual property across publishing and recorded music. The company owns or administers copyrights spanning genres from pop and rock to hip-hop and country. Confirmed holdings include catalogs by Sheryl Crow (per Billboard, 2023), Joni Mitchell, and De La Soul's publishing rights. The firm acquires both publishing interests — controlling the songwriting and composition royalties — and master recordings, collecting revenue from streaming platforms, terrestrial radio, synchronization licensing in film and television, and public performances. Its geographic footprint covers North America, the UK, and the Middle East, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, and Abu Dhabi. The firm spent over $1.2 billion on acquisitions through early 2024 (per Music Business Worldwide), aggregating more than 150,000 copyrights across publishing and recorded music. Adjacent operations include a recorded-music division with labels Chrysalis Records and Tommy Boy Records, alongside joint ventures with artists and management companies that function as A&R pipelines. August 2024: Reservoir reported that music publishing revenue rose 15% year-over-year in its fiscal first quarter, citing streaming growth and catalog acquisitions (per the firm's earnings release, August 2024). Reservoir's structural differentiator is its dual-listed public-company status as a pure-play music-rights acquirer. Unlike private-equity backed catalog funds or larger conglomerates such as Universal and Warner, Reservoir operates as a mid-cap independent with a publicly traded stock that gives institutional investors liquid exposure to music royalties — a structure that allows the firm to raise acquisition capital through equity offerings while maintaining an active, hand-picked A&R and sync-licensing operation.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2007
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Additional offices
Los Angeles, CA · Nashville, TN · London, UK · Abu Dhabi, UAE
Principals
Golnar Khosrowshahi
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Rell Lafargue
President and Chief Operating Officer
Jim Heindlmeyer
Chief Financial Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment and acquisition decisions at Reservoir Media?
Golnar Khosrowshahi, as Founder and CEO, leads capital allocation and acquisition strategy. Rell Lafargue, President and COO, oversees operational integration of acquired catalogs. The firm reported over $1.2 billion in catalog spending as of early 2024, per Music Business Worldwide.
What is Reservoir's acquisition focus — publishing, masters, or both?
Reservoir acquires both music publishing rights and master recordings. Publishing generates revenue from songwriting copyrights, covers, and mechanical fees, while master income comes from ownership of specific recordings. This dual-asset strategy captures multiple royalty streams from a single song.
How does Reservoir source its catalog deals?
Reservoir sources deals through its executive team's industry relationships with songwriters, artists, and estates, as well as via direct negotiations with managers and attorneys. The firm's vertical integration — owning both publishing and recorded-music operations — makes it an attractive counterparty for artists seeking a creative partner rather than a pure financial acquirer.
Is Reservoir a family office or an independent music company?
Reservoir is a publicly traded independent music company (NASDAQ: RSVR). While founder Golnar Khosrowshahi comes from a prominent family — her father founded the holding company DRI Capital — Reservoir operates as a standalone, market-listed entity, not as a family office.
What revenue streams does Reservoir's catalog generate?
Revenue derives from mechanical royalties, performance royalties, synchronization license fees, and streaming income. The company reports segment revenue for music publishing and recorded music, and cited streaming-platform payouts as a growth driver when reporting a 15% year-over-year publishing revenue increase in August 2024.
Does Reservoir take outside capital from institutional LPs for catalog acquisitions?
Reservoir raises acquisition capital through public equity and debt markets as a listed company, rather than through traditional private fund structures with limited partners. It occasionally uses structured joint ventures for specific catalogs.
How is Reservoir different from Hipgnosis or Primary Wave?
Unlike Hipgnosis, which operates as a royalty fund structured for income distribution, Reservoir runs an active music operation with A&R, sync-licensing, and artist-development divisions. This operating-intensive model seeks to grow acquired catalog revenue organically rather than simply collecting passive royalties.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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