Every successful startup follows a familiar coming-of-age story. It begins with the founder’s personal savings or early angel investors, moves through rounds of venture capital backing, and eventually faces the ultimate graduation: the Initial Public Offering (IPO). An IPO is the exact moment a company opens its doors to the world, letting institutional investors and regular people buy shares on a public stock exchange like the Paris Euronext or the New York Stock Exchange.
When a company goes public, its value is no longer a boardroom estimate; it is decided in real-time by supply and demand. If the company is generating massive heat and hitting its growth goals, the share price climbs. Tech giants have used this path to blast into the stratosphere; Google did it in 2004 with a $23 billion valuation, and Facebook followed in 2012, raising $16 billion to hit a massive $104 billion valuation. For an ambitious company, an IPO is the ultimate war chest generator, providing the public equity capital needed to acquire competitors, hire top-tier talent, and break into new global territories.
By 2021, after fifteen years of independent scaling, Believe was ready for its own public validation. On June 1, 2021, the company officially launched its IPO on the Paris Euronext, aiming to raise €300 million by floating 14.35% of the company on the open market.
Developing an innovative technological platform, having the best digital expertise on the market, with local teams close to artists and independent labels, directly or indirectly, in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan to build relationships of trust with them based on respect, transparency and fairness: these are the fundamental elements serving our ambition
Denis Ladegaillerie
Founder & CEO, Believe
“Our ambition is to become the global leader in developing independent artists and labels in the digital world […] [An IPO] will allow us to finance our growth, in particular through targeted acquisitions. Developing an innovative technological platform, having the best digital expertise on the market, with local teams close to artists and independent labels, directly or indirectly, in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan to build relationships of trust with them based on respect, transparency and fairness: these are the fundamental elements serving our ambition”, said Denis Ladegaillerie at the time of the launch.
The financial community loved the pitch. Bidding within an indicative range between €19.50 and €22.50 per share, the market snapped up an initial issuance of 15,384,616 brand-new shares. Settling at an opening price of €19.50 per share, Believe officially achieved a massive debut market capitalization of €1.87 billion. Reflecting on the successful launch, Denis Ladegaillerie noted that Believe was now “crossing a new threshold in its development by going public”.
Going on a global shopping spree
The stock market launch wasn’t just a vanity play; it was backed by explosive underlying business numbers. Believe’s global revenues for the first half of 2021 had skyrocketed by 30% to hit €260 million, up from €196 million during the same period the previous year. To set the stage for this public expansion, their DIY platform TuneCore had just expanded its flags into Africa and Southeast Asia earlier that spring, riding high on the news that it had funneled $412 million directly into independent artist pockets in 2020 alone.
With €300 million in fresh public capital burning a hole in its pocket, Believe immediately went on a strong global acquisition campaign to increase its international market share.
In November 2021, the company acquired a 25% stake in the prominent French independent label Play Two. That very same month, Believe dropped €13 million to secure a 76% stake in South Indian powerhouse Think Music. By December, they extended their reach across the Pacific, securing a 15% stake in the Philippines’ Viva Music & Artists Group.
Upgrading the Independent Tech Stack
Alongside this corporate shopping spree, Believe funneled significant resources back into its internal technology, ensuring independent artists had the absolute best digital tools on the market.
In September 2021, drawing on the backend tech from their previous acquisition of Soundsgood, the company rolled out Backstage Link, a sophisticated smart-link tool designed to help artists track and optimize their fan traffic. By November, they launched specialized social distribution tools for DIY creators, allowing independent artists to seamlessly drop their tracks directly into the music libraries of hyper-viral social platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Instagram Reels.
The Great 2021 Music Gold Rush
This public graduation occurred during an absolutely staggering boom period for the entire global music ecosystem. According to data from the IFPI, global recorded music revenues surged by 18.5% to reach $25.9 billion in 2021. Streaming was the undisputed king, jumping 24.3% to hit $16.9 billion and capturing a dominant 65% of the total market. By the end of the year, the global population of paid streaming subscribers had grown to 523 million users.
Capital was flying everywhere as corporations scrambled to consolidate music assets. In March, a consortium led by rap icon Jay-Z sold the streaming service Tidal to tech company Square for $300 million. In May, Sony Music Entertainment completed its purchase of independent distributor AWAL and Kobalt Neighbouring Rights for $430 million. The major label buying spree didn’t stop there; by December, Warner Music Group snapped up independent hip-hop haven 300 Entertainment for $400 million, while Sony bought up the remaining 50% of Ultra Records it didn’t already own.
However, the most monumental financial event in the major label world occurred in September 2021, when legacy giant Universal Music Group (UMG) launched its own blockbuster IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. Handed an initial reference price of €18.50 per share, UMG’s stock went wild on opening day, peaking at €25.61 before settling at €24.97, handing the major a staggering €45 billion valuation by closing bell.
Independence is the new mainstream
In a year defined by mega-corporate mergers and multi-billion-dollar major label valuations, the Believe IPO stood as a massive, timely victory for the independent music community. It proved to Wall Street and global tech investors that music’s digital future wasn’t just a playground for legacy corporate conglomerates.
By holding its own and performing strongly on the Paris Euronext, Believe sent an undeniable message to the entire global industry: in the streaming era, independent artistry was no longer a beautiful, alternative market niche. Independence had officially become the new mainstream.
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Article written by Eamonn Forde. Eamonn Forde is an award-winning music business journalist and author. He writes for The Guardian, Forbes; Music Week, and Music Business Worldwide and several other publications.
