Focus music — purpose-built soundtracks for concentration, deep work, studying, and productivity — has emerged as a distinct and rapidly growing category in the music rights market. Positioned at the intersection of neuroscience, productivity culture, and remote work infrastructure, focus music catalogs are attracting buyers who see them as essential digital assets rather than traditional entertainment products. If you produce music designed to help people concentrate, your recordings are part of a market that is expanding faster than almost any other music vertical.
Typical valuation
4-7x annual revenue for established focus music catalogs
Market context
The Focus market.
The focus music market is powered by structural shifts in how people work and learn. The global remote work transformation, accelerated permanently by the pandemic, has created a massive population of knowledge workers seeking auditory environments that support sustained concentration. Surveys consistently show that 60-80% of remote workers listen to music while working, and the demand for "functional" music — compositions designed to enhance focus rather than entertain — has grown proportionally. Specialized platforms have emerged to serve this demand and they all need licensed content. Brain.fm, which uses AI-assisted composition to create focus music, has raised over $18 million in venture funding, validating the market opportunity. Focus@Will, one of the earliest productivity music platforms, claims over 3 million users and licenses music from independent producers for its curated channels. Endel, a generative music app for focus and relaxation, has secured partnerships with Universal Music Group and Amazon, demonstrating that major industry players recognize the value of functional music. On streaming platforms, focus and study playlists represent some of the highest-engagement categories. Spotify's "Deep Focus" playlist has over 5 million followers, "Brain Food" exceeds 3 million, and "Intense Studying" reaches 4 million. These playlists drive enormous stream counts because listeners play them for hours-long sessions — a study playlist listener might generate 40-60 individual track plays in a single session, compared to 8-12 for a casual pop listener. This consumption density makes focus music exceptionally efficient at generating streaming revenue per listener. The remote work infrastructure market further amplifies demand. Co-working brands like WeWork, Industrious, and Regus license background music for their spaces, and focus-appropriate music is increasingly preferred over generic background music. Educational technology platforms — from Coursera to Khan Academy to university LMS providers — are exploring ambient focus music integrations to improve student engagement and study outcomes. Corporate training platforms represent yet another growing channel, with L&D departments seeking licensed music for e-learning modules, virtual training sessions, and digital onboarding experiences. The convergence of productivity culture, remote work permanence, and platform proliferation creates a demand environment where well-produced focus music catalogs are valued not just as music assets but as productivity infrastructure — an essential layer in the digital work environment that buyers are willing to pay premium multiples to acquire.
What affects value
What we look at.
Streaming session depth — tracks that appear in long, uninterrupted listening sessions indicate genuine productivity use and generate more revenue
Playlist penetration across Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music focus and study categories
Scientific or neuroscience-informed composition approach — tracks designed around concentration research command premiums
Tempo and BPM consistency — catalogs maintaining optimal focus tempos (60-80 BPM or 110-130 BPM) signal intentional design
Absence of lyrical content — purely instrumental focus music is more licensable and versatile
Active relationships with productivity or ed-tech platforms
Catalog size and thematic cohesion — buyers prefer 80+ track catalogs with consistent sonic identity
Licensing channels
Where focus music earns.
Productivity and focus apps (Brain.fm, Focus@Will, Endel, Noisli)
Co-working spaces and flexible office providers (WeWork, Industrious, Regus)
Educational technology platforms and university learning management systems
Corporate training and e-learning content providers
Pomodoro timer and task management apps (Forest, Todoist, Focus Keeper)
Remote work tool integrations (Slack, Notion, or similar productivity suites exploring ambient audio)
Library and public study space background music services
Coding and developer-focused streaming channels and apps
Example
A real-world scenario.
An electronic music producer pivoted to creating purpose-built focus music after noticing that their minimal techno tracks were being added to Spotify study playlists by algorithmic curation. Over three years, they built a dedicated focus music catalog with intentional BPM ranges and minimal harmonic movement designed for sustained concentration.
Catalog size
164 tracks across 18 albums, all instrumental and lyric-free
Monthly streams
2.4 million monthly streams (primarily Spotify and Apple Music)
Annual revenue
$44,800 (streaming: $41,200, direct licensing to a co-working brand: $3,600)
Outcome
SPACE matched the producer with an ed-tech company developing an AI-powered study platform that needed a licensed music library. The buyer valued the catalog at 5.5x annual revenue ($246,400) and structured the deal as a master rights acquisition with a small ongoing royalty (3%) for the first three years as a retention incentive. The clean, sample-free, lyric-free nature of the catalog and its proven focus playlist performance were the primary drivers of the premium valuation. The producer invested the proceeds into a new generative music project focused on adaptive study soundtracks.
Questions
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