Epidemic Sound Group AB

What is Epidemic Sound?

Epidemic Sound Group AB is a Swedish music technology company operating the leading soundtracking platform for content creators. It licenses music and sound effects from a catalog it owns outright to YouTubers, businesses, and brands.

Who owns Epidemic Sound?

Epidemic Sound is owned by its private shareholders. EQT is the largest investor at approximately 32 percent, followed by founders at 19 percent, Blackstone at 17 percent, and Creandum at 12 percent, plus additional backers.

Is Epidemic Sound a public company?

No. Epidemic Sound is privately held. CEO commentary in Swedish press has explicitly dismissed near-term sale or IPO plans.

When was Epidemic Sound founded?

The operating business was founded in 2009 in Stockholm. The group holding company, Epidemic Sound Group AB, was established in December 2020.

How does Epidemic Sound make money?

It earns revenue through subscription licensing: creators and businesses pay recurring fees for catalog access, plus digital rights management revenue from platform usage monitoring. It owns its music catalog outright, retaining subscription revenue rather than paying royalties through to labels.

Who founded Epidemic Sound?

The company was founded in 2009 by Peer Astrom, David Stenmarck, Oscar Hoglund, Jan Zachrisson, and Hjalmar Winbladh. Winbladh serves as Chair of the Board, and Hoglund moved from CEO to a board role in the 2025-2026 transition.

Epidemic Sound was founded in 2009 in Stockholm by Peer Astrom, David Stenmarck, Oscar Hoglund, Jan Zachrisson, and Hjalmar Winbladh. The founding group combined music production background (Astrom and Stenmarck are established producers) with technology and business expertise. The original insight was that the emerging online video economy needed music that could be legally used without navigating the conventional label licensing system designed for broadcast media.

The company built its model around outright music ownership: commissioning and buying recordings and compositions directly from artists, then licensing the catalog to users through subscription. This eliminated the royalty complexity that made conventional licensing unusable for creators uploading content at scale.

Through the 2010s Epidemic Sound grew alongside YouTube's creator economy, becoming the default music source for professional YouTubers. Its Swedish roots reflected the country's outsized music production heritage, the same ecosystem that produced Spotify and a generation of globally dominant songwriters.

Institutional investment arrived as the creator economy professionalized. Creandum was an early backer. EQT took a significant stake in 2019 at a reported valuation of approximately €370 million. In 2021 a funding round including Blackstone Growth and EQT Growth valued the company at approximately $1.4 billion, placing it among Sweden's most valuable music technology companies. The group holding company, Epidemic Sound Group AB, was established in December 2020 as the parent entity.

Growth continued sharply: revenue rose 29 percent to SEK 1.92 billion in 2024, with adjusted EBITDA tripling to SEK 147 million. In 2025 reported revenue was SEK 1,828 million, a 5 percent decline driven by currency movements and a digital rights management revenue reset, though constant-currency growth was positive at 3 percent. The company invested deliberately in AI transformation through 2025, accepting a negative adjusted EBITDA margin of 3 percent for the year, and returned to profitable growth in the first half of 2026 with 10 percent constant-currency growth and a 10 percent adjusted EBITDA margin. Co-founder Oscar Hoglund transitioned from CEO to a board role during this period.

The company's market recognition is reflected in its institutional backing and customer roster rather than awards. Its catalog partnerships with major artists including Johnny Marr and Richie Hawtin function as industry validation of its artist-facing model, and its client list of major brands including Coca-Cola, Apple, and the Premier League demonstrates enterprise-grade adoption.

Epidemic Sound has faced criticism from music creator organizations about its artist compensation model: buying music outright means artists surrender ongoing royalty participation that conventional publishing would provide, a trade-off critics argue favors the platform over musicians. The company counters that its upfront-plus-bonus structure provides predictable income versus uncertain royalty streams.

Digital rights management enforcement has also produced friction, as automated claims on platforms where users believed they held valid licenses have periodically generated disputes. No major regulatory action is on record.