Create Music Group Backs Nettwerk Buyout With $300M Injection

In a deal that redefines the ceiling for independent music financing, Create Music Group (CMG) has executed a definitive agreement to invest over $300 million into Nettwerk Music Group. Confirmed on February 6, 2026, the transaction facilitates a massive management buyout (MBO), allowing Nettwerk co-founders Terry McBride and Mark Jowett to exit existing institutional investors and regain operational sovereignty.

This is not a traditional acquisition where a major swallows a mini-major. Instead, it signals the arrival of "infrastructure-backed independence"—a model where legacy catalogs access liquidity and tech stacks without surrendering their brand identity.

Anatomy of a buyout

The deal structure, expected to close later this month, bifurcates the business into two distinct lanes: creative operations and asset management.

The front end: Nettwerk retains full autonomy over A&R, marketing, and artist management. The leadership team stays in place, preserving the culture that broke artists from Sarah McLachlan to Passenger.

The back end: CMG takes a "controlling position" in the music IP portfolio. Nettwerk’s massive catalog will migrate onto Create’s proprietary operating system, leveraging CMG’s data pipelines for collection and monetization.

Key insight: This deal separates the low-margin labor of breaking acts from the high-margin asset management of legacy hits, allowing each partner to specialize where they have leverage.

A private equity shuffle

While the press release frames this as a victory for independence, the capital flow reveals a sophisticated consolidation within the private equity sector. The connective tissue here is Flexpoint Ford.

2023: Flexpoint Ford leads a recapitalization round for Nettwerk.

2024: Flexpoint Ford leads a $165 million investment into Create Music Group.

2026: Create buys out Nettwerk's "existing investors."

Though the official statement is coy about which investors are exiting, the math suggests Flexpoint Ford is effectively moving Nettwerk’s assets from a direct holding to a portfolio company (CMG) better equipped to maximize the yield. It is an asset transfer disguised as an MBO.

Platform over label

For Create Music Group, this validates its transition from a YouTube monetization shop to a comprehensive industry utility. CMG is betting it can increase the LTV of Nettwerk’s 40-year catalog by applying better metadata hygiene and algorithmic optimization.

Create is not trying to be a label; it is building an operating system. By absorbing the backend of a major indie without taking on the overhead of frontline label services, CMG rapidly scales its market share. This aligns with their aggressive 2024-2025 spree, which included purchasing the !K7 label group and the Deadmau5 catalog.

Solving the middle-class squeeze

For Nettwerk, the deal provides a vital lifeline following a rocky period that included a 10% workforce reduction. Mid-sized indies are currently trapped in a "middle-class squeeze"—too big to operate cheaply, but too poor to compete with Universal or Sony on advances.

The benefit: The $300 million injection clears the cap table and provides "substantial follow-on capital" for new signings. The trade-off: Nettwerk management bets that their A&R ears are their true value, while conceding that a tech-native company like Create is better suited to handle the pipes and plumbing of distribution.

This transaction serves as a blueprint for other heritage indies in 2026. As interest rates complicate pure catalog sales, the federated model—keeping the name but outsourcing the engine—may become the standard for survival.