Exclusive: Indie label group Futures raises $6M, eyes catalog expansion
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Futures Music Group has raised $6 million to sign more artists to its independent label, invest in infrastructure and expand into catalog deals, executives exclusively tell Axios.
Why it matters: The traditional label model is being challenged as online platforms empower artists and more capital floods into music rights deals.
How it works: Two indie label founders — Neon Gold Records' Derek Davies and Avenue A Records' Dave Wallace — launched Futures in 2024 as a collective. Virgin Music Group serves as its distributor.
- Futures seeks to provide artist-friendly deals. Its standard model starts as a 50/50 split for one album and then shifts further in the artist's favor after certain net profit thresholds are hit. Artists own their masters.
- The label avoids long-term lock-ins, relying instead on what Davies calls a "good vibes option," where artists continue working with the label by choice, not contract. "The artist-label relationship doesn't have to be an antagonistic one," he adds.
- Futures' roster includes Lykke Li, Mt. Joy, Cavetown, Phantogram, The Knocks and Barns Courtney.
Follow the money: Futures' new funding came from several strategic music industry investors in the U.S. and U.K.
- Davies declined to disclose names other than Ben Blackburn, founder of Common Knowledge and manager of Girl in Red.
- Blackburn tells Axios that Futures' model stands out by rejecting the "top heavy" structures of traditional labels and instead using a "network-driven, expert-driven approach" that builds bespoke strategies around each artist.
The big picture: The music industry is undergoing massive structural change. The rise of streaming, TikTok and other creator tools have given artists more leverage and forced labels to adapt.
- Artists have also vocalized their issues with major labels. Hayley Williams called the Atlantic contract she signed at 15 "oppressive." Taylor Swift brought mainstream attention to masters ownership.
- More artists are pursuing catalog deals, which grant access to capital and assistance in growing their past work.
- "Part of the reason that we're looking at expansion into the catalog space is we want to go deeper, not wider, with these artist relationships," Davies says. "More attention, I think, is the name of the game."
What's next: Lykke Li, who performed at Coachella this month, releases her next album on May 8.
- Davies says Futures also plans to announce major new signings in the coming months. It intends to keep its roster small, at under 20 artists.
- Futures is also interested in developing its own proprietary technology for creating new digital album experiences.
- "The digital album format has basically not evolved in 25 years," Davies says. "There's such an opportunity to create a more engaging and immersive surface for fans ... and recreate that experience of coming home from the record store."
Go deeper: America's loudest export
