EVDIV 65 - The Music Industry: Structure, Rights, and Value

Paul Sipio
This seminar breaks down how the modern music industry works: how music is financed, distributed, monetized, and valued, and why copyright sits at the center of the entire system. Designed for artists, managers, entrepreneurs, and creative professionals, this course offers a clear, practical map of who gets paid, when, and why.

Across four days, participants explore the full music value chain from creation to monetization, the difference between songwriting and recording rights, and how money flows among artists, labels, publishers, platforms, and advisors. The seminar treats copyright as economic infrastructure, showing how rights are created, licensed, enforced, and monetized across global markets.

Students gain fluency in the main revenue streams in music, including mechanical, performance, synchronization, and digital royalties, along with how statutory rules and market forces shape licensing. The course also looks at music through a financial lens, examining why catalogs have become an asset class and how valuation, risk, and return are shaped by streaming and digital distribution.

Using current case studies and real-world transactions, participants leave with a practical understanding of how creative work becomes economic value, how that value is divided across the industry, and how to engage more strategically as a creator, operator, or investor.

Biography: Paul Sipio is a managing director in the origination group at Apollo Global Management. Sipio has led Apollo’s long-term financing partnerships in the music industry with Sony Music Group and Concord. Prior to joining Apollo in 2021, Sipio worked in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Investment Banking group at Goldman Sachs as well as at Universal Music Group. Sipio received his M.B.A. with Honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and he graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Music from Northeastern University. Sipio is a professor on the music adjunct faculty at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. He also serves as an advisor on the board of Yale School of Music, a trustee on the board of Kaufman Music Center, and a director on the board of Behind the Book.

One Section Available | 4 Classes Total | Extension Holiday Schedule

Monday, June 15

Tuesday, June 16

Wednesday, June 17

Thursday, June 18

6–9pm ET

In Person Only

$360

Register by Phone: (212) 799-5000 ext. 273

Our phone line is open Monday–Friday (excluding holidays), 9:00 am–5:00 pm ET.

*Please note our offices will be closed on Fridays after Memorial Day.