How Jeff Waye and Patrick Curley constructed Third Facet Music into an indie publishing powerhouse with USD $25M in annual revenues
Trailblazers is an MBW interview sequence that turns the highlight on music entrepreneurs with the potential to turn into the worldwide enterprise energy gamers of tomorrow. On this characteristic, we communicate to Jeff Waye, Co-Founder and COO, and Patrick Curley, Co-Founder, President and CEO, of world impartial music writer Third Facet Music. Trailblazers is supported by TuneCore.
Third Facet Music began life in Montreal in 2005 with a $150,000 funding by two music trade veterans. Now, it’s an impartial publishing powerhouse.
The corporate, based by Jeff Waye and Patrick Curley, tells MBW that it’s averaged 15-20% year-over-year development and generated over USD $25 million in annual revenues in 2025, all with out ever taking a cent of outdoor capital.
Waye began his profession in document distribution and retail earlier than spending a decade working Ninja Tune‘s operations in North America.
Curley, in the meantime, got here from the indie rock world, ultimately turning into an leisure lawyer and founding Plateau, one of many first businesses to supply sync as a devoted service.
Immediately, their firm’s observe document speaks for itself: “Over 95% of our offers have been totally recouped, and we’ve had 99% consumer retention throughout our lively roster,” says Waye of Third Facet Music.
“Our ardour is music not market share.”
Jeff Waye, Third Facet Music
TSM’s 75,000-plus title catalog spans a roster that features SOFI TUKKER, Sky Ferreira, BadBadNotGood, Courtney Barnett, Future Islands, Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee, and Colin Stetson, alongside iconic legacy catalogs comparable to The Clyde Otis Music Group, Studio One, Galt MacDermot, and Alan Watts.
The corporate’s sync division – with devoted groups in Los Angeles, New York, London, Montreal, and Mexico Metropolis – has been the engine of a lot of its success, touchdown music in every part from The Bear and The White Lotus to model campaigns for Apple, Dior, and Hermès.
The facility of TSM’s sync operation was on full show in late 2025, when consumer Wolf Parade’s 2005 observe I’ll Consider in Something was positioned within the TV sequence Heated Rivalry.
The music almost doubled its lifetime Spotify streams – from 21 million to over 40 million – in simply two months. Wolf Parade’s month-to-month Spotify listeners, in the meantime, surged from 196,000 to over 2 million.
“In my 35+ years in music, I’ve by no means seen a sync have this sort of influence — each statistically and culturally,” says Waye.
Curley tells MBW that TSM skilled “document development” in 2025, together with its best-ever 12 months for sync, and says the corporate is constructing on that momentum in 2026.
“TSM is increasing methods we are able to accomplice with artists, together with new admin offers, joint ventures, and partial catalog purchases — whereas staying disciplined in regards to the sorts of offers we do,” he says.
In an trade more and more formed by consolidation, Waye and Curley’s insistence on full independence has turn into central to their pitch to artists.
“Corporations have provided to purchase us,” says Waye. “However I think usually their curiosity is usually in burying a competitor. The minute you must prioritize traders over artists, it’ll by no means profit the artists, and I’m not interested by that.”
Right here, Waye and Curley talk about TSM’s two-decade journey, the state of impartial publishing, and why they’ve by no means been tempted to promote…
YOU BOTH CAME FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS IN THE BUSINESS — HOW DID THOSE EXPERIENCES INFORM YOUR VISION FOR THE COMPANY?
Jeff Waye: Within the early 2000s, document gross sales had been taking a dive, folks had been shopping for the odd observe on Apple, streaming hadn’t actually are available in but, and it was getting more and more onerous to make a document label work. However on the identical time we’d land a six determine sync, and I’d more and more surprise why we had been sending a lot mechanical earnings to passive publishers.
So it led me to consider creating a brand new type of artist-focused publishing firm that will be an equitable vacation spot, treating them as companions and never commodities, and truly bringing providers to the desk.
Patrick Curley: Since Plateau had been specializing in B2B advertising to music supervisors and manufacturing corporations, I noticed firsthand how highly effective it may very well be when it was accomplished proper. So we merged this, and modeled TSM after the indie labels we cherished, specializing in inventive and sync, administration, correct registrations, paying precisely, and constructing long-term partnerships as a substitute of locking folks into lopsided offers.
COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE STATE OF THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS WHEN YOU LAUNCHED COMPARED TO TODAY, AND WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES YOU’VE WITNESSED?
PC: Once we began, sync was comparatively under-serviced by quite a lot of the main publishers, and plenty of artists checked out sync as promoting out. Immediately it’s central to how they construct their careers, and publishers have since added full-service sync operations that didn’t exist in the identical manner as once we began twenty years in the past. As publishing revenues have grown considerably, so has the urge for food for catalog acquisitions, and valuations have modified accordingly.
“WHEN WE STARTED, SYNC WAS RELATIVELY UNDER-SERVICED BY A LOT OF THE MAJOR PUBLISHERS, AND MANY ARTISTS LOOKED AT SYNC AS SELLING OUT.”
PATRICK CURLEY
JW: Again then, you’d pitch extra seasonally to a couple networks and promoting businesses, and usually the enterprise wasn’t as world as it’s at this time. However as issues shifted to streaming, the demand exploded. To not point out the rise of video video games and different media. Immediately we’re pitching on tons of of tasks per week. During the last twenty years, the standard of content material grew to become manner broader, and music wants extra world. Syncs also can catapult a profession. That actually modified the notion of many who had beforehand considered sync as a sellout.
YOU’RE CELEBRATING YOUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY WITH as much as 20% YOY GROWTH AND $25M ANNUAL REVENUE. WHAT’S DRIVING THIS REVENUE GROWTH?
PC: Jeff and I launched TSM with $150,000 of our personal cash and have averaged as much as 15-20% development yearly by sticking to a fundamental philosophy: pay precisely and commonly, provide particularly reasonable offers, and win folks over by means of providers and outcomes moderately than hype. We give attention to constructing catalogs which have depth, not simply a few headline hits, and staying genuinely impartial so we are able to make choices with a long-term view.
“Jeff and I launched TSM with $150,000 of our personal cash and have averaged as much as 15-20% development yearly by sticking to a fundamental philosophy: pay precisely and commonly, provide particularly reasonable offers, and win folks over by means of providers and outcomes moderately than hype.”
Patrick Curley
JW: Our mannequin has confirmed to work in apply. Over 95% of our offers have been totally recouped, and we’ve had 99% consumer retention throughout our lively roster. Lots of our shoppers are on their fourth or fifth contract cycle, which suggests two issues: we’re selecting the correct companions, and delivering sufficient worth that they select to remain. In addition they acknowledge we’re in it for the lengthy haul and never trying to flip their copyrights to another person. Our ardour is music not market-share.
PC: On high of that, we’ve intentionally invested in constructing a worldwide copyright admin platform, which suggests collections experience, fixing registrations and doing the heavy lifting on advanced, usually non-Western catalogs.
We additionally guarantee music supervisors can license music simply. This strategy has turned quite a lot of under-exploited repertoire into regular, recurring earnings. If you mixed that with a high-retention of the roster, and workers that has been with us 10–18 years, and also you get compounding development, not simply incremental. Our present head of royalties, Monica Castilla, was TSM’s first worker again in 2007!
TSM IS STILL FULLY INDEPENDENT AFTER 20 YEARS. WHAT DOES INDEPENDENCE MEAN TO YOU, HAVE YOU HAD BUY-OUT OFFERS, AND HOW HAS STAYING INDEPENDENT SHAPED YOUR DECISION-MAKING?
JW: With no third-party traders, father or mother firm, or company oversight, TSM isn’t beholden to anybody however our artists, songwriters, and their groups. This lets us take a long-term strategy, and again music we consider in.
YOU’VE BECOME A PROMINENT PLAYER IN THE SYNC SPACE WITH OVER 17,000 PLACEMENTS. HOW HAS YOUR SYNC STRATEGY EVOLVED, AND WHAT DIFFERENTIATES TSM’S APPROACH?
PC: We began as a sync-focused firm earlier than it was an trade norm, and constructed our basis round doing that extraordinarily nicely—pitching, clearances, relationships, and ensuring each artist has approval over what’s licensed.
Our strategy hasn’t modified. However as the marketplace for syncs exploded, TSM’s sync fame and world attain has grown. TSM has devoted groups in Los Angeles, New York, London, Montreal, and Mexico Metropolis, and we make investments closely in catalog analysis and rights-clearance particularly for non-Western repertoire in order that supervisors don’t get hit with claims later. That’s why we are able to place 9 tracks from one catalog in a single season of a present like The White Lotus and never have any points.
“We began as a sync-focused firm earlier than it was an trade norm, and constructed our basis round doing that extraordinarily nicely—pitching, clearances, relationships, and ensuring each artist has approval over what’s licensed.”
Patrick Curley
JW: If I do say so… now we have arms down the most effective sync crew and sync technique. However, not right here to share our particular sauce besides to say, it’s nothing with out the A&R crew bringing in consistently thrilling and related new music companions, and a sync crew that makes it their job to make shoppers’ lives simple and never waste anybody’s time. Additionally, we don’t sit again and await the telephone to ring. We’re insanely proactive, know every catalog inside out, and make it simple and secure for supervisors to make use of our music.
YOUR ROSTER SPANS LEGACY CATALOGS LIKE STUDIO ONE, THE CLYDE OTIS MUSIC GROUP, GALT MACDERMOT, JOE DARION, AND SOUNDWAY, TO CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS LIKE SOFI TUKKER. HOW DO YOU BALANCE DEVELOPING NEW TALENT VERSUS ACQUIRING ESTABLISHED CATALOGS?
PC: At a fundamental degree, we’re all music nerds and document collectors. So we are inclined to gravitate in the direction of nice artwork no matter whether or not it’s new or outdated. The great thing about being a music writer is that you simply’re not public going through, so there’s no want to stay to a specific sound or model. Very intentionally, we attempt to get world class high quality music in all genres, types, and eras.
Within the case of SOFI TUKKER (pictured inset), TSM has helped to land them over 450 syncs so far, which have completely performed a novel function in growing their profitable profession. For lots of our writers, sync isn’t simply ancillary earnings, it’s integral to how they attain followers.
“We’re not on the market making an attempt to purchase a $50 million catalog to flip it. We’re interested by rigorously chosen catalogs the place TSM can add actual worth.”
Jeff Waye
JW: We’re not on the market making an attempt to purchase a $50 million catalog to flip it. We’re interested by rigorously chosen catalogs the place TSM can add actual worth —particularly non-Western catalogs, the place rights are typically messy, as traditionally there weren’t rights administration buildings in place when the music was created.
Our copyright crew led by Melanie Santa Rosa excels on the heavy lifting — monitoring down heirs, doing due diligence, fixing splits, and ensuring the correct folks receives a commission. That lets us cling an “open for enterprise” signal on deep Nigerian, Ghanaian, Thai, and Jamaican catalogs, and produce them safely into trendy sync and streaming.
On the identical time, we signal and develop new artists that we’re real followers of. We would like the most effective of the most effective in each style potential, so we by no means go away a possibility on the desk. However, not a lot of 1 factor the place we’re then competing towards ourselves and the artist we made commitments to.
WHAT M&A OPPORTUNITIES ARE YOU SEEING IN THE MARKET?
PC: Essentially the most fascinating alternatives for us are much less about huge headline acquisitions and extra about focused catalog partnerships. With so many reversions occurring, there are quite a lot of writers and estates getting rights again after lengthy intervals.
“We’re additionally seeing a niche in financing for artists with mid-size catalogs which might be off the radars.”
Jeff Waye
JW: We’re additionally seeing a niche in financing for artists with mid-size catalogs which might be off the radars. So now we have been positioning ourselves to supply partial catalog purchases and joint ventures on an as-needed foundation. Nevertheless, we’ll solely do these offers if they’re genuinely mutually useful and tied to our long-term work rising the earnings of a catalog.
WHAT OTHER TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE MARKET THAT WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
JW: Before everything is the trade obsession with treating music catalogs as monetary property. We’d moderately simply speak about music as music after which determine find out how to make good cash for musicians we respect. Can also the AI bros please simply transfer on to their subsequent shiny object. AI output that by design can solely be spinoff is simply such a boring subject.
PC: General publishing revenues are rising, and organizations like NMPA and others are preventing the massive battles. After which there’s AI and the wave of panic round it. From our perspective, good music isn’t going wherever.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IN THE MUSIC PUBLISHING BUSINESS TODAY?
PC: One instant problem is platform habits — Spotify’s bundling being a main instance. One other is the sheer quantity of capital chasing catalog acquisitions, and majors bidding up property. It may be onerous for independents to compete on upfront cash the place the multiples is not sensible (i.e. offers that gained’t recoup within the Time period). Nevertheless our shoppers know we all know we are able to ship higher providers and higher outcomes, and in the end assist them enhance the long run worth of their catalogs.
JW: There are additionally challenges round rights readability, particularly with non-Western catalogs. There will be a long time of inaccurate registrations that rights homeowners face, copyright gaps, and distrust. We’ve invested in offering the very best degree of providers to assist remedy these points and maximize earnings for our shoppers. The work is painstaking, however if you happen to don’t do it, supervisors and artists find yourself coping with the problems down the road. And thumbs all the way down to the fixed tech-bro-ification of music.
IF THERE WAS ONE THING YOU COULD CHANGE ABOUT THE GLOBAL MUSIC BUSINESS, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
PC: I’d undo the type of strikes we’ve seen with bundling and related ways that strip thousands and thousands from songwriters and publishers. Songwriters should be correctly valued.
JW: I’d like to see the trade cease speaking about music as if it’s simply one other asset class. When boardrooms deal with songs like actual property, you find yourself with choices which might be completely divorced from the inventive actuality and lives of working musicians.
Trailblazers is supported by TuneCore. TuneCore gives self-releasing artists with know-how and providers throughout distribution, publishing administration, and a spread of promotional providers. TuneCore is a part of Consider.Music Enterprise Worldwide
