Cultural assets – a term ranging from sport to music – form increasingly significant elements of the portfolio allocations of family offices. But this area remains fragmented and sometimes overlooked, so the author of this article argues.

We carry this article from Stephen Szypulski, who has held executive roles at Goldman Sachs and the Bank of New York. Based in New York, he advises on business strategy, investor platforms, and alternative investments, with a focus on private capital across the cultural landscape. The editors are pleased to share these ideas; the usual editorial disclaimers apply. Email tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com and amanda.cheesley@clearviewpublishing.com

Family offices are increasing alternative allocations to between 40 and 50 per cent, yet cultural assets remain fragmented and often overlooked during a period of rapid innovation.

Music, film, sports, and cultural IP are advancing fast but in disconnected verticals, for example, SongVest with music royalties, Masterworks with art fractionalization, and MyRacehorse with thoroughbred exposure â€“ all developing separate monetization models and infrastructure.

This siloed approach misses both the wider portfolio benefits and innovation that could emerge from treating cultural assets as a unified class. Together, they deliver steady income, diversification, and experiences defining modern wealth management. And all of this will only accelerate as technologies and business models evolve through 2025 and beyond.

For managers, family offices, and wealth innovators, the opportunity is clear: 1) capitalize on emerging opportunities and structures across cultural verticals; 2) build institutional and digital-forward infrastructure to treat them as a unified alts category that deepens wealth access to them; and 3) establish competitive product differentiation for UHNW and family office clients with real returns before this space gets crowded.

Why this matters for wealth management (beyond emotion)
Wealth teams have stayed on the sidelines mainly because cultural assets were once niche passion investments limited to art, wine, or collectibles. Most institutions lack the operational infrastructure to manage these assets, which don’t fit standard reporting or due diligence frameworks, and are often fragmented across platforms (one for art, one music, one sport, etc.) 

Plus, wealth management is a product of financial innovation itself, and cultural assets are only more recently accessible â€“ streaming changed music royalties, digital platforms fractionalized art, sports equity is a recent opening, and film funds have only lately become institutionalized. Many clients simply don’t know these opportunities exist until products, infrastructure and education catch up.

As a unified class culture offers:
-- Uncorrelated returns â€“ music IP, sports equity, and art typically move independently of public markets;
-- Tangible cash flows â€“ royalties, licensing income, and franchise distributions;
-- Capital appreciation – for example, Buss family's $68 million Lakers purchase now tied to a $10 billion-plus valuation, or music catalog sales averaging 10 to 15x revenue multiples; 
-- Inflation resilience – fine wine has posted ~10 per cent compound annual growth rate over 30 years and fine art has served as a store of value across markets; 
-- Client stickiness – values-aligned experiences deepen trust and retention across generations and provide intra-client networking and cross-referrals; and 
-- Next generation connection â€“ as wealth transfers, culture offers a way of connecting investments to younger investors and UHNW inheritors in personalized, digital-first ways driven by a desire for both returns and meaningful connection.

A diversifier that resonates
Many cultural alts are built on IP and brand equity, especially music, film, sports, and literary estates, generating recurring income through royalties, licensing, and franchising. Others, like fine art and collectibles, derive value from scarcity, provenance, and cultural or artist significance, acting more as store-of-value assets.

Across the board, they share traits: illiquidity, passion-driven demand, identity and values resonance, and long-term appreciation potential.

Increasingly, the same stakeholders, including talent agencies (WME, CAA) and auction houses (Sotheby’s, Christie’s) operate across multiple verticals, and financing models are converging. Just as importantly, the investor base is blending, with athletes who build art collections, musicians who buy sports equity, and studios that acquire music rights. Cultural capital cross-pollinates.

Yet most wealth managers and platforms still treat these verticals as unrelated silos (and have one art advisor or specialized sports and entertainment team for wealth from those sectors alone). 

That fragmentation misses the bigger opportunity, which is to organize them under a cultural alts sleeve that delivers yield, appreciation, and values-aligned value all in one framework. Across the wealth landscape, access to broader cultural assets remains largely bespoke and underused. 

But monetization opportunities are everywhere:
-- Sports: media rights, franchise equity, and city-linked real estate. See CAIS/Eldridge’s recent S&E fund launch, Mark Cuban’s Harbinger, or fractional thoroughbred ownership via MyRacehorse; 
-- Music IP: Dundee Partners’ 74 per cent stake in Chord Music Partners (valued at $1.85 billion) shows how royalty-backed income can mirror fixed income traits;
-- Literary estates: Viking Global-backed International Literary Properties (ILP) acquires and monetizes IP from estates like Langston Hughes and Guys and Dolls, recently adding George Bernard Shaw via the American Play Company;
-- Film: indie investing resembles early-stage VC (high risk, high passion) while institutional slate financing offers access to diversified revenue (streaming, foreign sales, merchandising), even for projects that never hit sales goals;
-- Esoteric cultural arts (collectibles, fine art, equestrian): art has appreciated approximately 12.6 per cent CAGR (1995 to 2022), while collectibles like vintage watches and classic cars are increasingly fund-backed and tracked; platforms like MyRacehorse offer fractional access to race earnings, breeding rights, and resale upside; and 
-- Experiential and creator-driven IP (podcasts, influencer content, hospitality, and festivals): though still early-stage, these areas could unlock monetization via licensing, syndication, and brand equity.

Beyond financial returns, cultural investments offer what wealth managers already know â€“ access, belonging, and identity. Top platforms host clients at Art Basel, Formula One, Grand Prix Monaco, the US Open, or Saratoga Racecourse because these experiences build client retention and grow wallet share.

Cultural investments deliver similar value, with red carpet access for film investors, backstage meet-and-greets via music IP, franchise events through sports exposure, or exclusive equestrian showcases. These experiences hit home because they reflect a client’s identity and values, all essential for modern wealth and legacy planning, alongside returns.

In the family office space, music alone has generated serious interest in recent years thanks to digital streaming. Stephen Hendel’s office acquired Kobalt Capital’s music catalog for $1 billion, and more recently, Arty Traders launched a platform specifically for family offices, offering AI-driven tools and liquidity solutions for institutional art portfolios. 

Two recent case studies highlight this trend, including a $1.5 billion New York MFO that generated about 24 per cent returns through AI-driven art investing and outperformed art benchmarks by 6 to 8 per cent annually.

Expect more white-glove platforms to emerge, consolidating access to music, film, sports, equestrian, collectibles, and literary IP through unified interfaces. This will transform passion investments into institutional-grade portfolio components for wealth managers across the spectrum.

What wealth managers and family offices can do now:

-- Reframe the conversation â€“ culture isn’t just “art,” it’s a class spanning music, film, IP rights, equestrian assets, collectibles, and more; 
-- Partner with operators â€“ find specialists who understand both the creative and financial sides across verticals, and advisors and platforms that translate creative assets into commercial structures while understanding unique risks, liquidity, and challenges; 
-- Curate experiential access â€“ whether backstage invite or event access, these experiences build affinity and often lead to stronger retention. Lean into localized opportunities that are value differentiators for RIA teams to capture and retain new clients; 
-- Educate early â€“ these assets are typically illiquid, long-term, and bespoke, which can be a strength for clients with patience and passion, but they won’t necessarily be part of every UHNW or HNW alts sleeve; and 
-- Track institutionalization and innovation â€“ from fund launches to digital platforms, this space is evolving rapidly. Family offices and managers who build cultural alts expertise now will be positioned to lead as the asset class matures.

The future belongs to those who act early, build expertise, and deliver seamless experiences aligned with evolving wealth. Innovation-focused, younger, and values-driven clients will seek platforms offering diverse products and tailored access within alts. Treating culture as capital is a smart starting point. Those who wait risk falling behind as expectations and markets shift.