Catalog Multiples Expected to Hold Flat, More Latin & Country Deals in 2026: Duetti & Billboard’s Music Finance Index

The study tracks sell-side expectations for the catalog investment market, including deal multiples, volume and growth trends among genres. Line Graph Illustration Variety Trending on Billboard Catalog multiples are expected to hold largely flat for the rest of the year despite investors growing interest in Latin, country and catalogs younger than 10 years old, according to Duetti and Billboard‘s Music Finance Index report published Tuesday (July 21). This report polled around 70 lawyers, managers, artists, and their teams in Duetti’s orbit for their sell-side expectations on catalog valuations, deal flow and which genres will field the most acquisition offers in the next six months. The result of a collaboration with Billboard — which contributed to shaping the survey questions and sourcing participants for the panel — can be viewed in full on Duetti’s website. Lior Tibon, CEO of Duetti and Evan Winiker, managing partner at Range Media Partners, will hold an online webinar to discuss the report at 1 p.m. ET. Related While respondents’ market perceptions held mostly stable from the report six months ago, there were notable changes like a 20% increase in the expected multiples, a key component of catalog valuation, for music released two to five years ago and a tightening of the expected range of multiples older catalogs can fetch. Tibon says that stability has most respondents taking a “wait and see” approach to changes in valuation multiples in the latter half of the year, with a third of respondents saying they are cautiously optimistic that multiples will increase. “The picture from this report is of a more balanced market,” Tibon tells Billboard. “There is very healthy activity in the market. Folks are willing to transact, and the market is healthy but I also think people are rational and buyers are discerning.” Expectations for the values catalogs could get from investors was again heavily reliant on age, with the youngest publishing catalogs (six months to two years old) receiving a multiple of 4.7 to 6.5 times trailing 12-month net revenue and the oldest catalogs (10 years and older) receiving a multiple of between 12.1 and 14.6 times trailing 12-month net revenue, according to respondents. Overall, publishing rights are perceived to be more valuable than masters across every age band, with lawyers saying they perceive multiples to be meaningfully higher than managers. The report’s authors say this may reflect the reality that lawyers often handle higher-value deals. This is the first Music Finance Index to ask respondents how they think super new music is valued, and it comes after Duetti publicly announced it is acquiring catalogs of music released as recently as six months ago. Respondents overwhelmingly said they expect Latin and country catalogs to get the most attention from prospective investors in the second half of the year, with a net of 75% of respondents saying they expect deal volume to increase for Latin, up from 67% of net respondents in the first half of the year. Country saw the biggest increase from the report six months ago, with a net total of 60% of respondents expecting deal volume for catalogs of the genre to rise in the coming six months, versus 48% in the prior six-month period. Participants’ expectations for Latin and country catalogs mirrors findings from recent consumption reports, including Luminate’s mid-year report, which found that Spanish-language songs now account for nearly one in 10 U.S. streams. Latin music has grown in popularity such that 54% of U.S. music fans described themselves as casual listeners of Latin music in the first quarter of 2026, up from 44% of music fans in the third quarter of 2021, according to Luminate. Tibon says the Music Finance Index’s findings show the catalog investment market is also paying more attention to Latin and country music, an indicator that the lag between investor interest and creative trends is getting shorter. “It’s the first time we’ve seen a tighter connection between the creative side of the industry and the catalog market,” Tibon says. “Maybe it’s because more seasoned practitioners are getting into the space or investors are buying younger catalogs or because streaming provides a quicker feedback loop in terms of translating consumption activity into [actionable insights]. There is a growing convergence between the two sectors [the catalog investment market and creative side].” Here are some key takeaways from the panel’s responses in the report. Publishing rights were perceived to be more valuable overall than rights to master recordings, although “catalog age remains the clearest, most consistent driver of perceived valuation.” Publishing catalogs aged six months to two years are perceived to receive a multiple of 4.7 to 6.5 times trailing 12-month net revenue; catalogs age two to five years old to receive a multiple of 6.9 to 8.6 times trailing 12-month net revenue; catalogs aged five to 10 years old to receive a multiple of 9.5 to 12 times trailing 12-month net revenue; and for catalogs older than 10 years to receive a multiple of between 12.1 and 14.6 times trailing 12-month net revenue, although fewer respondents supported that sentiment this report compared to last report. Masters catalogs aged six months to two years are perceived to receive a multiple of 3.8 to 5.1 times trailing 12-month net revenue; catalogs age two to five years old to receive a multiple of 5.9 to 7.4 times trailing 12-month net revenue; catalogs aged five to 10 years old to receive a multiple of 8.1 to 10.6 times trailing 12-month net revenue; and for catalogs older than 10 years to receive a multiple of between 10.2 and 13 times trailing 12-month net revenue, although fewer respondents supported that sentiment this report compared to last report. 54% of respondents expect multiples to hold flat in the second half of the year, with 33% of respondents expecting multiples to rise and 13% expecting multiples to decline. Catalogs in the Latin and country genres are expected to see the greatest increase in deal volume in the next six months, as EDM and pop catalogs, previous standouts for growth in the first six months, are expected to cool, according to respondents. 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