Larrosa has made a major splash within the music enterprise over the previous couple of years.
In 2023, the Spain-born finance and tech-centric music firm raised over €15 million ($16m) to amass catalogs and deploy advances to artists, specializing in Spanish-speaking markets.
In November, Larrosa shaped a strategic alliance with Bell Companions, based by veteran author, producer, and government Hayden Bell, to amass unbiased music firms and catalogs.
Bell Companions, based in 2022, has invested over USD $350 million in music rights to this point. Based on the announcement on the time, through their partnership, Bell and Larrosa plan to spend an identical quantity on music firms and catalogs “within the coming years”.
With an already sturdy presence in Spain and Latin America, Larrosa has now taken a strategic step towards world growth by opening a brand new headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The corporate tells us that it’s launching out there with a “strategic roadmap for MENA growth by means of innovation and focused acquisitions”.
Working beneath the title Larrosa MusicTech & Capital, Larrosa says that this subsidiary will handle its mixed portfolio of music and expertise property valued at over €15 million ($16m).
“We selected to broaden into the UAE as a result of the nation affords unimaginable alternatives for firms like ours, notably these deeply concerned in superior expertise and modern monetary buildings for the music {industry},” explains the corporate’s founder and CEO, Cristian Larrosa.
“Dubai particularly stands out as a worldwide monetary hub, which makes it supreme for scaling technological partnerships with main companies and authorities our bodies, in addition to exploring new enterprise fashions round music property, catalogs, and inventive initiatives.”
The brand new base in Dubai will even function Larrosa’s operations and partnership hub for the broader Center East, North Africa, and Asia markets.
Commenting on the largest alternatives he sees in these markets, the corporate’s CEO says that “there’s a vibrant wave of music-related innovation sweeping throughout the area.”
“We’ve already carried out a number of operations with Asian catalogs, and we’re notably intrigued by North Africa’s spectacular progress, so we’re taking a look at it intently,” he explains.
“Nonetheless, our main focus stays the Center East, pushed by financial growth and its rising world affect.
“The latest institution of Music Nation within the UAE, supported by BMI and SoundExchange, underscores the area’s evolving panorama, making rights administration and royalty assortment extra structured and environment friendly than ever.”
As a part of its growth into Dubai, Larrosa says that the corporate is at present in “superior negotiations with funding funds” within the UAE that want to again “modern initiatives” working on the crossroads of expertise and music.
“We’re very captivated with exploring M&A alternatives within the MENA area,” Cristian Larrosa tells us.
“The fast evolution of the music-tech ecosystem right here affords distinctive potentialities. We’re particularly curious about partnering with firms targeted on music tech improvements, catalog acquisition platforms, AI-driven instruments, and fan-engagement options.”
He provides: “With success tales like Anghami and the rising funding curiosity from regional funds in culturally-rooted and tech-driven IP, we see MENA as essential for our strategic progress.
“We’ve already began cultivating native partnerships and look ahead to increasing our presence by means of focused M&A.”
“We’re very captivated with exploring M&A alternatives within the MENA area.”
Cristian Larrosa
Following the $16 million elevate in March 2023, Larrosa additionally confirms that the corporate is seeking to elevate extra capital to fund its M&A exercise.
“We’re actively engaged in discussions with numerous funding funds, together with a number of at present in formation throughout the UAE, Europe, and america,” he says.
Individually, through its lately introduced alliance with Bell Companions, Larrosa confirms that the corporate can also be “actively progressing within the evaluation of assorted initiatives, catalogs, and firms.”
He provides: “Our crew continues to work diligently on these alternatives with the intention of closing a number of offers quickly.”
Past catalog funding alternatives, Larrosa says that the brand new Dubai HQ will even act “as a bridge to attach with regional and worldwide buyers curious about new applied sciences reminiscent of blockchain, synthetic intelligence, and quantum computing utilized to the sector”.
From its Europe-based “innovation middle”, the corporate’s Larrosa Labs division has been growing tech instruments reminiscent of ‘Wolfie AI’, described as “an AI-powered suite providing specialised help instruments for the music {industry}, together with non-generative audio options”.
“I genuinely imagine AI will profoundly impression the music {industry} past simply manufacturing and composition,” says Cristian Larrosa. “It’s going to more and more develop into a vital software in every day operations, from rights administration to artist reserving and authorized frameworks.”
He explains that his “imaginative and prescient” about AI’s future positioning within the enterprise “impressed” the corporate to create WolfieAI, which he claims is “the primary AI platform solely designed for the music {industry}”.
“Wolfie doesn’t simply function a sophisticated chatbot,” says Larrosa. “It integrates specialised {industry} instruments, together with a strong audio suite and devoted immediate helpers tailor-made for each sector.”
“I genuinely imagine AI will profoundly impression the music {industry} past simply manufacturing and composition.”
Cristian Larrosa
The corporate may be investing in AI instruments, however Larrosa is adamant that the “ongoing debates round generative audio concern [him] deeply.”
“We see a urgent want for a clear, inclusive licensing framework that advantages the complete {industry}, not simply choose gamers,” he says.
“Transparency in AI, reminiscent of clear insights into coaching knowledge and transparency from builders at the very least the place inventive works are concerned, is essential.”
He insists that WolfieAI’s last iterations will incorporate moral applied sciences addressing “industry-wide issues”.
Larrosa Labs has additionally developed ArtSigna, which the corporate describes as “a pioneering platform for certifying music rights on the Bitcoin blockchain,” and which, it claims, “is quickly to be built-in with collective administration societies”.
Trying to the way forward for the corporate’s positioning within the UAE, Cristian Larrosa believes that the MENA area “is positioned for exceptional progress.”
Based on world recorded music physique IFPI, the Center East and North Africa area was the fastest-growing globally in 2024. Recorded music revenues elevated by 22.8% YoY there in 2024, whereas streaming within the MENA area accounted for 99.5% of complete revenues.
Larossa argues that additional progress within the MENA area can be “pushed by rising investments in inventive industries, stronger IP laws, and larger integration of expertise into music distribution and rights administration”.
He provides: “Nations just like the UAE and Saudi Arabia are more likely to develop into key world gamers, pioneering digital innovation, together with AI and blockchain options, thus creating thrilling new monetization alternatives and boosting regional cultural affect internationally.”Music Enterprise Worldwide
