Musixmatch buys Music Reports to expand from lyrics into music rights
Musixmatch has bought Music Reports, the Los Angeles company behind the Songdex copyright registry, in the first acquisition of its 16-year history.
The deal was announced on October 19. Financial terms were not disclosed, according to Music Business Worldwide. Financing for the transaction was provided by Tikehau Capital.
The buyer is based in Bologna and is best known for lyrics and music data. The seller runs services covering music ownership, licensing, usage tracking and royalty payments. Put simply, it keeps track of who owns a song and who should be paid when it is used.
That job now gets bigger. London-based Blokur, a music data and licensing platform owned by Music Reports, passes to Musixmatch as part of the deal. So does Cuetrak, software that helps streaming services and broadcasters produce cue sheets, the lists of music used in films, shows and other video that are used to pay songwriters and publishers.
Musixmatch described the purchase as a shift from a leader in lyrics and music data to a full-stack rights and royalties platform. In plain terms, a single system that can handle administration, royalty processing, cue sheets, licensing and lyrics.
The company says the combination will create what it calls the world's most comprehensive registry of music copyright information. It brings together three parts: Musixmatch's music intelligence technology and dataset, Music Reports' Songdex registry and Blokur's rights-matching technology.
Songdex says its database holds more than one billion searchable music data points. Musixmatch plans to combine that registry with its own data to build a metadata layer linking recordings, the compositions behind them and the rights information attached to both. For listeners, that plumbing is invisible. For writers, publishers and services, it decides whether money finds the right person.
The deal also stretches Musixmatch beyond lyrics. The company said the acquisition moves its rights business into mechanical rights, the fees paid when music is reproduced on streaming or physical formats, alongside sync, print and performance rights. Sync covers music matched to picture in film, television and advertising. Print covers sheet music. Performance covers music played in public or broadcast.
Musixmatch says it works with more than 250,000 rights owners and music publishers worldwide. The company is led by founder and chief executive Max Ciociola.
Music Reports marked 10 years of its Songdex Marketplace in August 2026. MidOcean Partners acquired Music Reports, including its Songdex and Cuetrak businesses, in 2020.
