Founder’s Note
Why We’re Building Equal IQ
Mayowa Arogundade
Founder & CEO, Equal IQ
The independent music business is growing.
Artists, producers, songwriters and independent labels can now build real businesses around rights they own. Recorded music generated $31.7 billion globally in 2025, and independent artists and labels now account for a major share of streaming payouts.
But the problem is not that there are no tools.
The problem is that most rights holders still do not have a clear financial view of their business.
Think about it like having money spread across five different bank accounts. You might have $5,000 in one account, $10,000 in another, and money sitting somewhere else that you barely think about.
Music works the same way.
A distributor may be collecting master royalties. A publisher may be collecting publishing income. A PRO may be collecting performance royalties. There may be licensing income somewhere else.
The money is there, but the full picture is fragmented.
And music is not just revenue. That revenue is attached to contracts and rights that have value.
If you do not clearly understand what you own, what it earns, what is owed against it and where the money is coming from, it becomes much harder to understand the true value of your business.
That matters because more capital is moving into music.
Catalog buyers, distributors, private credit firms and other investors increasingly see music rights as a durable, income-producing alternative asset.
The capital wants to invest. The rights holders have valuable assets.
What is missing is a clear financial layer between the two.
That is what we are building with Equal IQ.
We want to bring the information together so rights holders can see the full picture of their business, understand what their assets may be worth and make better decisions around financing.
Sometimes that means finding revenue or rights that were being overlooked. Sometimes it means realizing you can borrow less than you thought you needed. Sometimes it means refinancing an expensive deal. Sometimes selling is the right answer.
The goal is not to push people into bigger deals. It is to help structure deals that actually make financial sense.
Equal IQ is the layer that connects the rights, the revenue and the capital.
Capital providers should be able to earn a return. Rights holders should be able to access capital without putting themselves in a bad position. And both sides should understand exactly what they are investing in.
That is the business we are building.
Know Your Worth.
Access Capital.
