What Went Into MNRK Music’s Sale For $385 Million

Chris Taylor is the President & CEO of MNRK Music Group — formerly known as eOne Music Group. The legacy label re-branded itself this year after its assets were sold from Hasbro to Blackstone for a whopping $385 million. Taylor took the Trapital hip hop business podcast behind what went into the game-changing moves and what could possibly be next.

Few music execs have a perspective as unique as Taylor. In the early ‘90s, he was a touring musician himself. Later that decade, he went into law practice for fellow artists — right before the “Naspter Winter” would forever shake up the music industry. As a lawyer, Taylor would come to represent some of the biggest Canadian artists ever. His client list includes the likes of Drake, Nelly Furtado, Three Days Grace, and too many more to name.

This unique pedigree led him to join Entertainment One’s music division in 2016. Since then, Taylor has controlled the music libraries of Death Row Records and Wu-Tang Clan, while managing chart-topping artists of today like The Lumineers and Jonathan McReynolds. Taylor doesn’t take those responsibilities lightly one bit, which he covered with us in this in-depth interview. Here’s what you can expect to hear about:

0:00 Re-Brands & Acquisitions: Inside MNRK’s Busy 2021
1:54 The Process That Went Into Shopping eOne Around For A Sale
5:00 How Other Music Industry Mergers & Acquisitions Influenced eOne’s Sale
6:28 How Has MNRK’s Strategy Evolved Since Taylor’s Arrival In 2016?
12:31 The Challenge Of Running A Record Label Under Hasbro
16:52 Taylor’s Take On The Present-Day Landscape Of The Record Label Business
21:13 How Durable Will Legacy Music Copyrights Be?
23:00 Taylor’s Proudest Career Moment
26:55 Taylor’s Relationship With Drake Since 2007
30:20 How MySpace Changed Talent Scouting
32:01 Why Taylor Left Law Practice Behind To Join eOne
33:33 Managing Death Row Records Catalog
35:35 Behind The Chronic Album’s Debut To Streaming Services
37:47 Taylor’s Perspective On Independent Artists
43:40 Artist Mindset Changes In Past 24 Months
46:25 The Biggest Trouble Plaguing Record Labels Today
47:53 Taylor’s Advice To Aspiring Artists
49:25 What’s In Store For MNRK In 2022?

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