OpenPlay accelerates global expansion with strategic investment led by industry veteran Tracy Maddux
16 September 2025 - Press release- Investment will supercharge OpenPlay's expansion strategy into platform growth, publishing and new international markets
- Tracy Maddux joins OpenPlay's board, alongside founders Edward Ginis and Brady Brim-DeForest
OpenPlay, the music industry's leading rights management platform and business engine powering over 3,500 labels, distributors and publishers across 24 countries, announces it has concluded a strategic investment round sourced from a range of global investors led by industry veteran Tracy Maddux. The multi-million dollar strategic investment round will fuel OpenPlay's next phase of transformative growth — expanding its product suite, strengthening its team, and driving international market entry.
Since inception in 2013, OpenPlay has grown to become the operational backbone of the global music business, managing millions of assets daily in an increasingly complex and data saturated digital ecosystem. Available in 30 languages, OpenPlay has achieved profitability while solving one of the industry's most persistent challenges: giving rightsholders true control over their catalogs, regardless of their existing commercial relationships.
Edward Ginis, CEO of OpenPlay, said: "We are building the business engine that powers how music rights are managed, monetized, and maximized globally. The industry has been waiting for a platform that doesn't force rightsowners to choose between control and collaboration. OpenPlay puts you firmly in the driver's seat, all while maintaining all relationships with distributors, service providers and the broader ecosystem. This new investment accelerates our ability to deliver that freedom to every rightsholder globally."
Leading the investment round is Tracy Maddux, Principal Consultant at Artes Management LLC and former Chief Commercial Officer at Downtown Music Holdings, where he spearheaded major acquisitions including Fuga and Curve Royalty Systems. Maddux, who is also joining OpenPlay's board alongside co-founders Edward Ginis and Brady Brim-DeForest, brings deep expertise in scaling music technology platforms internationally. He scaled CD Baby into a global powerhouse and currently serves on the boards of LANDR and PostUp.Pro.
Maddux is joined by a consortium of strategic investors including David Alexander, founder of Sheer Publishing, the largest independent music publisher in Africa; John Horton, founder and former CEO of LegitScript, a global leader in internet compliance; and FaroLatino, an independent music company specializing in digital distribution, publishing, royalty collection and catalog management for the Latin music market, with offices across Latin America, Spain and the USA.
Tracy Maddux said: "OpenPlay has successfully become a trusted, independent platform that enhances and empowers business relationships. It provides the control and visibility that rightsowners have long been looking for, providing a critical infrastructure layer that means it's well positioned to play an even greater role in shaping the systems of the global music business. I'm looking forward to supporting the team in this exciting next chapter."
The new investment comes at a critical inflection point in the music rights market: over 120,000 new tracks enter the market daily; streaming platforms proliferate across global markets; technology companies flood the space with new services; and investment funds have transformed music into a securitized asset class, driving valuations steadily upward. This explosive growth has created unprecedented data volumes and operational complexity that legacy systems cannot handle.
OpenPlay's comprehensive product suite addresses that challenge, while embodying a philosophy of control and choice: Music manages recorded music catalogs with unmatched precision; Reach provides labels with distribution flexibility, allowing them to optimize their strategy across multiple channels and regions; InTune provides financial statement ingestion and revenue analysis; and Flow streamlines workflow management across entire organizations.
Additional new products are under development, with further launches expected in the coming months.
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