Universal Music

In 1972, Phillips formed Polygram and acquired Master Recordings and discovered the real game. Artists recorded once. The label owned the Masters Forever. Every stream, license and sync paid the label infinitely. One performance generated infinite payoff. The artist earned once. The label earned forever and compounded wealth endlessly. Universal consolidated catalogs across decades and owned thousands of artists' masters. When streaming arrived, UMG already owned the past. Every song on Spotify existed because Universal licensed it. Songs from 1990 still generated revenue. The business became a passive machine that improved over time.