Is Private Equity Destroying Music Production?

Attack Magazine · Oct 29, 2026

Native Instruments was only the tip of the iceberg. Private equity is pervasive in the music production industry, tied up with hardware, software and music distribution companies. How is this affecting the music you make?

Unless you’re big into finance, the first time you heard about private equity was likely in reference to Native Instruments. The German company, which was born out of the Berlin electronic music scene in the 1990s, was taken over by private investment firm Francisco Partners in 2021, which also scooped up iZotope and Plugin Alliance. Earlier this year, it was revealed that…