Music Industry

From Beats to B2B: Ola Sars Sets Sights on Music's $40 Billion Opportunity

Credit: soundtrack.io

Key Points

  • Millions of businesses are illegally using personal streaming accounts, creating a significant untapped market for both revenue and distribution in the music industry.
  • Ola Sars, Co-Founder of Beats Music and now CEO of Soundtrack Your Brand, sees converting these users as a multi-billion dollar opportunity.
  • Business subscriptions offer a 6X revenue multiple over consumer accounts, presenting a lucrative business upgrade for rights holders.
  • A partnership with global hospitality leader Accor demonstrates growing market traction for the legal B2B streaming model.
Ola Sars - Founder, CEO, and Chairman | Soundtrack Your Brand
Around 75-80% of small and medium-sized businesses are using consumer streaming accounts illicitly without even knowing it's illegal. The opportunity lies in converting them to a legitimate service, which at an average of $35 per subscription, represents a 5- to 6-X multiple on the global ARPU for consumer services.Ola Sars - Founder, CEO, and Chairman | Soundtrack Your Brand

Millions of cafes, shops, and restaurants are playing music from personal streaming accounts—a practice that actually violates copyright law. In an industry poised to double in value over the next 10 years, this represents a dysfunctional rights leakage. According to industry veterans, it’s a market already paying for music, but it's paying the wrong price to the wrong people.

We spoke with Ola Sars, a serial music-tech entrepreneur and the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Soundtrack Your Brand. Before setting his sights on the B2B market, Sars co-founded Beats Music, later acquired by Apple and rebranded as Apple Music. He says the widespread illicit streaming is actually a massive conversion opportunity with a pre-built market that just needs a better product.

By framing the solution as a simple business upgrade, it shifts the focus from punishing infringement to providing value. "No one is opening cinemas on Netflix accounts, yet the music industry allows an equivalent," Sars says. "Hollywood already fixed this problem. We should monetize the business opportunity properly, because it's an incremental billion-dollar opportunity for the entire industry."

  • The 6X multiplier: For rights holders, the financial incentive is undeniably compelling, as business subscriptions represent a high-margin revenue stream. Sars estimates 128 million locations worldwide form the total addressable market, representing a potential $40 billion annual opportunity. "Around 75-80% of small and medium-sized businesses are using consumer accounts illicitly without even knowing it's illegal," he says. "The opportunity lies in converting them to a legitimate service, which at an average of $35 per subscription, represents a 5- to 6-X multiple on the global ARPU for consumer services."

  • The Spotify playbook: His strategy for bringing licensed streaming to B2B intentionally echoes a playbook that radically altered the music industry over the past 15 years. "When Spotify transformed the music industry, it went after illegal file sharing and provided a better, legal service," he says. "It’s the same thing in the B2B space. The opportunity is even easier to unlock because people are already using music streaming."

    Ola Sars - Founder, CEO, and Chairman | Soundtrack Your Brand
    When I worked with Jimmy Iovine at Beats, he told me that the music industry is only about two things: breaking artists and making money. Breaking artists is about distribution and consumer reach, and making money is about extracting value from the subscription model.Ola Sars - Founder, CEO, and Chairman | Soundtrack Your Brand

    Sars's Spotify for B2B model is already gaining traction. Accor, a global hospitality group with a portfolio of more than 5,700 hotels and 10,000 restaurants and bars worldwide, recently partnered with Soundtrack Your Brand, proving that sophisticated global brands buy into the B2B streaming model. The untapped revenue potential, however, is only the beginning of the benefits to artists. The model also acts as a powerful new discovery channel, getting artists in front of more listeners.

  • Breaking and making: Beyond pure monetization, a properly licensed B2B ecosystem provides a new distribution channel, addressing the two fundamental pillars of the music business. "When I worked with Jimmy Iovine at Beats, he told me that the music industry is only about two things: breaking artists and making money," Sars says. "Breaking artists is about distribution and consumer reach, and making money is about extracting value from the subscription model."

Ultimately, the B2B opportunity is one possible solution as the music industry searches for its next wave of growth. From Sars's perspective, the industry's focus on distractions like AI-generated content misplaces its priorities. He believes the fundamental challenges are rooted in monetization and distribution, not a scarcity of music. "The music industry does not have a supply problem, and it does not have a demand issue," he says. "The challenge is the monetization and distribution of music."

This perspective pulls the conversation back to the human artistry at the heart of music. "I'd rather put Fleetwood Mac on one of my playlists than some computer-generated track," Sars says. "We don't need more music. We have everything we could possibly think of, and it's beautiful. Everything from classical music written hundreds of years ago to tracks produced by Deadmau5 yesterday."