Breaking Down Believe S.A. Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

Founded in 2005 by Denis Ladegaillerie, Arnaud Chiaramonti and Nicolas Laclias to back independent artists, Believe quickly built scale-acquiring Naïve Records for €10 million in 2016, capturing regional footholds that reached 25% market share in Russia and 15% in India by 2019, and going public in 2021 after a €300 million IPO that valued the group at €1.9 billion; by 2023 Believe surpassed €1 billion in digital music sales and reported €988.8 million in revenue in 2024, while operating two core segments-Premium Solutions and Automated Solutions-that monetize distribution, publishing and synchronization for creators across 50+ countries, leveraging AI tools, localized marketing and an acquisitive strategy aimed at 20% annual growth and expansion into 30 new countries by 2026, before a July 2025 public buyout at €17.20 per share by a consortium led by TCV funds, EQT X and Denis Ladegaillerie that secured 98.67% of capital and led to delisting as Believe pivoted to private ownership with stated targets including 50% women in leadership by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2030.

Believe S.A. (BLV.PA): Intro

• Founding (2005): Created to enable independent music rights-holders to monetize through digital platforms.
• Catalog expansion (2016): Acquired Naïve Records for €10 million, strengthening its catalog and market presence in France and Europe.
• Market penetration (2019): Achieved ~25% market share in Russia and ~15% in India, with artists including Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana.
• IPO (2021): Raised €300 million, valuing the company at €1.9 billion.
• Scale (2023): Exceeded €1 billion in digital music sales.
• Privatization (July 2025): Delisted from Euronext Paris after a public buyout offer and transitioned to private ownership under Upbeat BidCo.

• Mission: Empower independent artists and labels to build sustainable global careers via data-driven digital distribution, marketing, and rights management.
• Positioning: A vertically integrated services provider focused on high-growth emerging markets and long-tail indie catalog monetization.

• Digital distribution: Aggregates content to streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, regional DSPs), collecting royalties and payments.
• Label services & artist development: Marketing, promotion, playlisting, A&R support, sync/licensing assistance, localized release strategies.
• Rights management & publishing: Royalty collection, neighboring rights, metadata management, and royalty auditing.
• Investments & M&A: Strategic acquisitions (e.g., Naïve) and minority investments to secure catalogs, regional expertise and artist rosters.
• Data & technology: Proprietary analytics to optimize release timing, geo-targeting, and ad-supported revenue strategies.

• Streaming & downloads: Majority of revenue; Believe retained commissions and distribution fees while passing royalties to rights-holders.
• Label services fees: Upfront and ongoing service fees for marketing, promotion, and campaign management.
• Publishing & rights income: Collection of publishing, neighboring rights and sync fees from placements.
• Direct investments & catalog monetization: Income from owned catalogs and equity stakes in labels/artists.
• Other: Merchandising, live-related services, and software/analytics subscriptions for partners.

• Global presence: Operations across Europe, Russia, India, Latin America, Africa and SEA with local market teams.
• Artist & label base: Tens of thousands of independent artists and hundreds of indie labels globally (scale expanded via acquisitions and partnerships).
• Platform reach: Distribution to all major DSPs plus regional streaming services and social platforms (YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple, JioSaavn, Yandex Music, etc.).

• Advantages: Strong emerging market penetration, large independent catalog, data-driven marketing, integrated service stack and consolidated rights management.
• Risks: Revenue concentration by geography or a few big artists, streaming payout volatility, regulatory and licensing complexity in diverse markets, integration risks from acquisitions.

Believe S.A. (BLV.PA): History

• 2005 - Company founded in Paris.
• 2021 - IPO on Euronext Paris: raised €300 million; initial market capitalization ≈ €1.9 billion.
• July 2025 - Upbeat BidCo launched a public buyout offer at €17.20 per share.
• Post‑offer - Upbeat BidCo acquired 98.67% of Believe's capital and 97.40% of voting rights; Believe was delisted from Euronext Paris and moved to private ownership.
• Consortium leading the buyout: TCV funds, EQT X, and Denis Ladegaillerie, aiming to back accelerated growth and market consolidation.

• Strategic rationale for delisting: increase financial flexibility, enable longer‑term investments in A&R, tech and international expansion, and reduce short‑term reporting constraints.

• Digital distribution: licensing and distributing recordings to streaming platforms and DSPs; fees and revenue shares charged to artists/labels.
• Artist services: marketing, playlisting, sync, rights management, data & analytics for a fee or revenue‑share model.
• Label & partner investments: equity stakes and joint‑ventures with independent labels; long‑term royalty and catalog income.
• Platform & tech: subscription or usage‑based income from proprietary tools for rights management, analytics and monetization.

• Post‑takeover control concentrated with Upbeat BidCo consortium: TCV funds, EQT X and Denis Ladegaillerie - enabling strategic consolidation and investment without public‑market constraints.
• Delisting intended to increase speed of decision‑making and allow multi‑year investments in artist acquisition, catalog purchases and platform development.

Believe S.A. (BLV.PA): Ownership Structure

• Founders & management: significant operational control with vested equity incentives aligned to growth targets.
• Institutional investors: long-term shareholders providing capital for M&A and tech investments.
• Public float (Euronext Paris): provides liquidity and market-based governance.

• Artist-first: revenue sharing and reporting transparency for independent creators.
• Localized growth: country-level marketing hubs to scale local hits internationally.
• Technology-led: AI tools for A&R, playlisting signal optimization and audience targeting.
• Diversity & inclusion: target of 50% women in leadership by 2025.
• Sustainability: carbon neutrality goal by 2030 via green offices and renewable investments.
• Strategic growth: targeting ~20% annual revenue growth over the next five years.

• R&D & AI: ongoing investment in AI A&R and marketing analytics to improve hit discovery and reduce customer acquisition costs.
• M&A: bolt-on acquisitions to expand local market penetration and add specialized services (publishing, sync, label partnerships).
• Sustainability & governance: capex and OPEX earmarked for green office conversions and renewable energy procurement to meet 2030 net-zero goals.
• Human capital: hiring and leadership programs to meet the 50% women leadership target and support global expansion.

Believe S.A. (BLV.PA): Mission and Values

• Premium Solutions: bespoke, white-glove services for labels and higher-potential artists-local A&R, tailored marketing, playlist pitching, sync licensing support, rights management and advance financing.
• Automated Solutions: lower-touch, scalable distribution and monetization tools for long-tail independent creators-self-serve distribution, basic publishing administration, analytics dashboards and automated royalty flows.

• Digital distribution: delivering audio/video to DSPs (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc.) with revenue share/commission models and optional paid tiers for additional services.
• Music publishing & administration: registering works, collecting mechanical & performance royalties globally, and taking an administration fee.
• Synchronization & licensing: pitching catalog to advertisers, TV/film and gaming for sync fees and splits.
• Marketing & audience development: localized campaigns, social-first strategies and playlist/UGC activation to drive streams and sales.
• Ancillary services: advances, merchandising support, ticketing partnerships and data/insights subscriptions.

• Local market teams provide language- and culture-specific marketing, rights clearance and A&R.
• Central tech stack handles ingestion, metadata normalization, rights splits, royalty accounting and DSP integrations.

• AI-driven metadata matching and copyright detection to reduce claim disputes and speed up monetization.
• Machine-learning for playlisting signals, audience segmentation and campaign optimization.
• Automated royalty accounting systems to scale payments to millions of rights-holders with transparent reporting.

• Revenue split and commission: automated distribution typically operates on commission or fixed fee models; premium services often combine upfront fees, revenue share, or recoupable advances.
• Publishing & administration fees: percentage-based collection for global royalty flows; margin leverages scale and automated reconciliation.
• Ancillary income: one-off marketing fees, advances (recoupable), and revenue from partnerships (e.g., telco, social platforms).

• Acquisitions that bring market access, catalogs or technical capabilities.
• Partnerships with DSPs, social platforms and local media to drive distribution and monetization.
• Investments in product and AI to lower unit costs and improve margin on long-tail creators.

Believe S.A. (BLV.PA): How It Works

• Digital distribution: aggregation and delivery of recorded music to streaming platforms and digital stores; Believe takes a share of streaming and download receipts.
• Music publishing & rights management: administration of publishing income (mechanical/performing) and collection services for composers and songwriters.
• Synchronization (sync) licensing: monetization of synchronization rights by placing music in advertising, film, TV and games.
• Artist services and marketing: promotional campaigns, playlisting, social media strategy, data analytics and touring/support services charged on a fee and/or revenue-share basis.
• Technology & platform sales: proprietary tools (including AI-powered analytics, royalty accounting and marketing automation) sold internally to labels and externally to partners and artists.

• Revenue share from digital platforms - Believe signs distribution deals with artists/labels and receives a percentage of streaming and download revenues collected from DSPs (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube Music, etc.).
• Publishing & royalties - administration and collection of mechanical and performance royalties; Believe retains an administration fee or share of collected royalties.
• Sync licensing fees - one-off licensing fees and backend royalties for placements in commercials, films, TV and games; often negotiated as flat fees plus performance splits.
• Service fees - fixed or percentage-based fees for marketing, playlisting, campaign management, and bespoke artist services (campaign retainers, advances recouped against royalties).
• Acquisitions & partnerships - inorganic growth (catalog, local distributors, publishing companies) that adds recurring streams and expands geographic footprint; improved margin profile as scale increases.

• AI and data tools: Believe invests in AI for A&R discovery, automated royalty reconciliation, campaign optimization and audience segmentation - reducing manual costs and improving campaign ROI.
• Platform economics: automated ingestion, metadata normalization and reporting systems lower per-unit distribution costs as content volume scales.
• Margin leverage: fixed-cost tech and centralized rights management drive operating leverage; as streaming revenue rises, contribution margins on distribution improve.

• Emerging markets focus: higher growth rates in India, Latin America and Africa where streaming adoption is accelerating - increases addressable market and higher volume of independent releases.
• Independent-artist market capture: independent artists account for a growing share of recorded music revenue globally; Believe positions itself as the primary platform for independents seeking scale and data-driven services.
• External growth: targeted acquisitions of local distributors, publishing catalogs and tech companies both diversify revenue and deepen local market penetration.
• Sync and publishing monetization: as content demand for advertising/streaming video rises, sync placements and publishing administration become higher-margin, non-streaming revenue streams.

Believe S.A. (BLV.PA): How It Makes Money

• Core revenue streams: digital distribution fees, label & publishing services, marketing & promotion, sync/licensing, and platform monetization.
• Geographic strength: leading shares in targeted markets (25% Russia, 15% India as of 2019) and presence in >50 countries.
• Scale & tech: proprietary analytics, artist-facing SaaS tools and programmatic playlisting drive margins and cross-sell.
• Sustainability & operations: committed to carbon neutrality by 2030 with investments in green offices and renewable energy, aligning ESG with cost-savings and brand value.

• How revenue is captured:
• - Distribution & take-rates: upfront fees and revenue shares from streaming platforms and stores.
• - Label & 360° services: marketing, rights management, advances and recoupable services for artists/indie labels.
• - Data & tech monetization: subscription/SaaS for partners, API/analytics, and monetized platform features.
• - Licensing & sync: catalog licensing for film, TV, ads and games, plus publishing income streams.