Why AI is about to break the music valuation model w/ Benji Rogers

The music industry is standing at a crossroads where AI will either become the biggest new revenue stream in its history or trigger the largest transfer of value away from rights holders and into AI platforms.

In this episode, we sit down with entrepreneur and technologist Benji Rogers (Sureel AI, Lark42) to unpack what that means for music investors and catalog buyers. Benji argues that most funds are still pricing catalogs off 10–18x past revenues as if the next decade will look like the last, without modelling how AI will change what gets played, synced and surfaced by pushing the cheapest viable audio over premium IP.

We explore how attribution and licensing design could turn AI from an opaque threat into a metered, recurring revenue stream, and why unreleased, un-scraped and more novel recordings may soon become some of the most mispriced assets in the market.

At stake is whether music investors capture the upside of this shift — or accidentally finance the next major wealth transfer out of the music ecosystem.

Brought to you by Standard Innovation.

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Standard Innovation is the data consultancy that helps music investment funds unlock higher valuations and exit multiples through better infrastructure.

► Episode Links

Sureel AI: https://www.sureel.ai

Lark42: https://www.lark42.com

Standard Innovation: https://standard-innovation.com

► Credits

Guest: Benji Rogers — Co-President, Sureel AI; Partner, Lark42

Hosts: Emma Griffiths, Tom Mullen, Sam Morey

Theme: “Meet Me” — Outlines (Written by Sam Cox) — Courtesy of Bespoke Records