Spotify has changed much more than how people listen to music.

It has also changed how music itself is valued.

A song recorded 30, 40 or even 60 years ago can continue generating royalties every time somebody streams it, watches a video containing it or hears it in a film or television programme.

That has helped turn music rights into an increasingly valuable asset class.

One British company built around exactly this idea is One Media iP Group.

One Media iP buys music rights, distributes recordings across digital platforms and attempts to increase the amount of money those catalogues generate over time.

Today, the company manages a catalogue containing more than 400,000 music tracks and makes its content available across hundreds of digital stores around the world.

So what exactly is One Media iP, what music does it own and how does the company make money?

What is One Media iP?

One Media iP Group is a British music rights company that acquires, publishes, distributes and monetises music intellectual property.

The company describes itself as a “digital music rights acquirer, publisher and distributor”.

In simple terms, One Media buys rights connected to music that already generates royalties and then attempts to increase the value of those rights.

Its catalogue now includes more than 400,000 tracks, which are distributed to more than 600 digital stores and services around the world.

These include major platforms such as:

• Spotify
• Apple Music
• YouTube
• Amazon Music
• TikTok
• Other streaming and digital music services

The company is publicly listed on London’s AIM market under the ticker OMIP.

Who founded One Media iP?

One Media iP was founded by Michael Infante in 2005.

Infante had already spent years working in the music industry before launching the company.

Among other projects, he worked as executive producer on a major Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recording project involving more than 140 classical albums.

He later co-founded Air Music & Media Group before recognising the potential of digital music distribution and establishing One Media.

The timing was important.

When One Media was founded, Spotify hadn’t even launched.

YouTube was still new.

The iPhone didn’t exist.

Streaming wasn’t yet the dominant music format.

But the shift towards digital music meant enormous quantities of older music could suddenly be monetised globally without manufacturing CDs, shipping physical products or relying on record shops.

One Media built its business around that transition.

What does One Media iP actually own?

One Media has accumulated rights through dozens of acquisitions.

CEO Michael Infante has overseen more than 80 acquisitions of music and television content catalogues since establishing the company.

Rather than concentrating entirely on modern chart hits, One Media has historically specialised in older catalogue music.

Its holdings include music and royalty interests connected with artists and catalogues spanning numerous decades and genres.

Previous acquisitions have included royalty interests connected to artists including Take That and Kid Creole and the Coconuts, while other parts of the company’s catalogue include material involving George McCrae, The Troggs and extensive classical music collections.

One Media also operates Point Classics, an extensive classical music catalogue.

The strategy isn’t necessarily about owning today’s number-one single.

It’s about owning large quantities of music that can continue producing royalties for years.

How does One Media iP make money?

The basic business model is relatively straightforward.

One Media acquires rights.

Those rights generate royalties.

The company then tries to increase those royalties.

There are several ways that happens.

1. Music streaming royalties

The most obvious revenue source is streaming.

Every time music in One Media’s catalogue is streamed through services such as Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music, the relevant rights can generate royalties.

One individual stream is worth very little.

But catalogue investing operates at scale.

One Media manages more than 400,000 tracks.

Some might generate only small amounts individually.

Collectively, however, a huge catalogue can create recurring revenue.

This is one of the attractive characteristics of music rights.

A recording doesn’t need to be manufactured again every time somebody consumes it.

Once the rights exist and the recording has been delivered to digital platforms, it can potentially keep earning repeatedly.

2. YouTube

YouTube is another important part of the business.

One Media operates more than 20 YouTube channels as a certified partner.

Archive music and video can be particularly well suited to YouTube because content that might otherwise sit unused in a library can suddenly become discoverable by global audiences.

One recent example demonstrates the opportunity.

One Media released a previously unheard interview with George Harrison from 1969.

The archive recording generated more than 65,000 views shortly after publication.

A piece of content sitting in an archive for decades can therefore suddenly find a completely new audience.

That is increasingly important to One Media’s strategy.

3. Film and television sync licensing

Music catalogues can also earn money when songs are licensed for television programmes, films, advertisements, games and other media.

This is usually known as synchronisation or sync licensing.

One Media has continued securing sync placements from its Point Classics catalogue.

During the first half of its 2026 financial year, music from the catalogue was placed in CBS television series Tracker, Peacock series The Copenhagen Test and feature film Only Living Pickpocket in NY.

A successful sync can create two different benefits.

First, the rights owner receives licensing revenue.

Second, exposure through the film or programme can cause people to discover and stream the music afterwards.

A song can therefore earn money from the initial sync and potentially generate additional streaming revenue later.

4. Music publishing royalties

One Media also owns interests in music publishing rights.

There is an important distinction between owning a recording and owning the composition underlying that recording.

A song can have several separate copyrights and royalty streams.

One Media has historically acquired different types of music interests rather than following a single acquisition model.

For example, previous deals have included songwriter shares, producer royalties and other royalty interests.

This allows the business to build exposure to different areas of the music royalty ecosystem.

Why would an artist sell music royalties?

If music can produce income for decades, why would somebody sell it?

Cash today can sometimes be more useful than uncertain income spread across the next 20 years.

Imagine a songwriter receiving £30,000 per year from an older catalogue.

They could continue collecting that income every year.

Or a music rights investor might offer them a large lump sum today in return for some or all of those future royalties.

The songwriter receives liquidity.

The investor receives a long-term income-producing asset.

One Media created a programme called Harmony iP around this idea.

Harmony iP allows music rights holders to exchange part of their future royalty income for an upfront payment.

The rights holder doesn’t necessarily have to sell everything.

One Media can acquire a portion of future income instead.

Why are old music catalogues valuable?

One of the fascinating characteristics of music is that old doesn’t necessarily mean obsolete.

Fleetwood Mac.

Queen.

ABBA.

The Beatles.

Elton John.

Songs can remain culturally relevant for generations.

And digital platforms have arguably made older music easier to discover.

A teenager doesn’t need to find a 40-year-old vinyl record in a shop.

They can hear a song on TikTok and immediately open Spotify.

A track can appear in Netflix series and suddenly begin trending.

An old performance can become popular on YouTube.

A sample can introduce another generation to the original recording.

One Media specifically highlighted this nostalgia effect in its latest financial results, arguing that streaming, social media, video-on-demand, documentaries and short-form video have created new ways for heritage recordings to reach audiences.

That creates an unusual economic characteristic.

Some intellectual property can become less valuable as it ages.

Music can occasionally become more valuable.

One Media is trying to actively manage its music catalogue

Buying music and collecting royalties isn’t necessarily enough.

One Media increasingly talks about “active portfolio management”.

The company wants to make existing catalogue assets easier to discover.

That includes:

• Improving metadata
• Creating new visual content
• Developing archive material
• Securing sync placements
• Improving searchability
• Expanding digital distribution
• Using technology to improve catalogue management

For example, One Media has created new visual content around recordings by George McCrae and The Troggs while continuing to develop its Rock Star Interviews archive series.

This highlights an important shift in music catalogue investing.

The strategy isn’t simply:

Buy music → wait → collect royalties.

Increasingly it is:

Buy music → improve distribution → improve discovery → create new content → find new audiences → increase royalties.

One Media iP and artificial intelligence

AI is also beginning to affect the way music catalogues are managed.

One Media says it is using AI-assisted technology in a controlled way to help improve areas including:

• Metadata
• Searchability
• Workflow efficiency
• Audience engagement
• Visual content
• Catalogue organisation

The company argues that the future value of music catalogues will increasingly depend on how discoverable and accessible they are.

That is an interesting point.

Owning millions of obscure recordings isn’t necessarily valuable if nobody can find them.

The real challenge is connecting the right music with the right listener.

Better recommendation technology and AI could make enormous archive catalogues significantly easier to explore.

How big is One Media iP?

One Media is relatively small compared with music giants such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.

But its business model is very different.

For the six months ending April 30, 2026, One Media reported:

• Revenue of £2.34 million
• Net revenue of £1.60 million
• EBITDA of £1.10 million
• Operating profit of £640,000
• Profit before tax of £590,000
• Cash of £1.18 million

The company reported an operating margin of approximately 27%.

Reported revenue fell compared with the previous year, although One Media said much of the decline resulted from currency movements.

The underlying US-dollar royalty income was remarkably stable.

One Media received approximately $1.95 million in net income during the six months compared with around $1.94 million during the equivalent period a year earlier.

That recurring nature of catalogue royalties is central to the business model.

One Media has also been reducing its debt

The company’s financial position has been improving.

At April 2026, One Media reported £1.18 million in cash while its Coutts debt facility had fallen to approximately £580,000.

A year earlier, cash was approximately £510,000 and the debt facility stood at around £1 million.

The company therefore moved into a stronger net cash position while continuing to generate profits from its music portfolio.

Is One Media iP a record label?

Sort of.

One Media describes itself as a global digital record label, publisher and video rights management company.

But it doesn’t operate exactly like the record labels most music fans recognise.

A traditional record label might spend significant amounts discovering new artists, recording albums, marketing releases and trying to generate hits.

One Media is more heavily focused on acquiring existing intellectual property with an established history of generating income.

That’s much closer to investing.

Instead of asking:

“Could this new artist become successful?”

One Media might ask:

“How much income has this catalogue generated historically, and what could those royalties be worth in the future?”

Those are very different risk profiles.

Music rights have become an investment asset

One Media is part of a much bigger trend.

Over the past decade, enormous amounts of capital have moved into music rights.

Investors increasingly view successful music catalogues as long-duration assets capable of producing relatively predictable cash flows.

The logic isn’t difficult to understand.

People keep listening to music.

Streaming subscriptions continue growing.

New music platforms create additional ways of monetising songs.

Film and television productions require music.

Social media introduces old recordings to new audiences.

And a successful copyright can generate royalties for decades.

One Media’s latest results noted that global recorded music revenues reached $31.7 billion in 2025, while the number of paid streaming accounts continued growing globally.

Every increase in music consumption potentially expands the opportunity for companies that own rights.

What makes One Media iP unusual?

Perhaps the most interesting thing about One Media isn’t its size.

It’s the model.

Most people think of the music business in terms of artists and hit records.

One Media views songs more like income-producing assets.

Acquire rights.

Own them for long periods.

Distribute them everywhere.

Improve their discoverability.

Collect royalties.

Reinvest.

It is a completely different way of looking at the economics of music.

And streaming has made the model considerably more scalable.

A catalogue owner doesn’t need warehouses full of CDs.

It can potentially monetise hundreds of thousands of recordings through the same digital infrastructure.

Could forgotten music become increasingly valuable?

This might be the most interesting part of the entire music catalogue market.

There are millions of recordings sitting in archives around the world.

Some are commercially irrelevant.

Others might simply be difficult to discover.

Streaming, social media and AI could change that.

TikTok has already repeatedly demonstrated that decades-old songs can suddenly become viral.

Television series can revive forgotten recordings.

Spotify algorithms can expose listeners to music released before they were born.

YouTube can turn old interviews and performances into new content.

AI-powered search and recommendation could make huge archives easier to navigate.

For companies such as One Media, that creates an opportunity.

The music doesn’t necessarily need to be new.

The audience can be new.

One Media iP FAQs

What is One Media iP?

One Media iP Group is a UK-based music rights company that acquires, publishes, distributes and monetises music intellectual property. It is listed on London’s AIM market under the ticker OMIP.

How many songs does One Media iP own?

One Media says its diversified catalogue contains more than 400,000 music tracks.

Who founded One Media iP?

One Media iP was founded by Michael Infante in 2005. He remains the company’s Chief Executive Officer.

How does One Media iP make money?

One Media generates revenue by owning music rights and monetising them through streaming, digital downloads, YouTube, music publishing, synchronisation and other uses.

What is Harmony iP?

Harmony iP is One Media’s music equity release initiative. It allows music rights holders to receive upfront money in exchange for a portion of their future music royalty income.

Is One Media iP publicly traded?

Yes. One Media iP Group trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker OMIP.

Does One Media iP own classical music?

One Media operates Point Classics, a substantial catalogue of classical recordings that is monetised through streaming and sync licensing.

The music business isn’t only about creating new music

One Media iP provides an interesting example of how dramatically the economics of music have changed.

The world’s music catalogue isn’t static.

A song recorded decades ago can generate its first Spotify stream today.

A forgotten recording can appear on TikTok tomorrow.

An orchestral recording can be licensed into a television programme.

An archive interview can generate tens of thousands of YouTube views more than half a century after it was recorded.

All of those activities can create value for whoever controls the underlying rights.

That is the opportunity One Media iP has been building around for more than two decades.

More than 400,000 tracks later, the company’s business demonstrates something increasingly important about the streaming era:

You don’t always need to create the next hit.

Sometimes owning the music people already love can be a business in itself.