deadmau5’s $55M Sale: Music Rights Out, Gaming World In
I first saw deadmau5 open for Ferry Corsten at Global Dance Festival at Red Rocks Amphitheater in 2008. He was still pretty unknown but blew up soon after that. Personality, not for everyone: sharp, sarcastic, and openly allergic to the DJ influencer look. Can we really blame him though?
He’s a real one. A real internet dork through and through — it’s kind of part of his charm, at least to me. I mean, I saw him die in hardcore mode playing Diablo live at the first TwitchCon in San Francisco, year 2015, so his video game and Twitch credentials are not anything new. He’s still on brand… just now that brand is co-managed by CMG. He probably doesn’t give a flying fuck cause he cashed out high—but let’s deep dive into this anyways.
The $55 Million Play: Catalog Gone, Leverage Gained?
Just this year, in 2025, deadmau5 sold his entire back catalog and Mau5trap label to Create Music Group for $55 million. That means everything: from Strobe to Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff, plus all rights tied to his indie label and the tracks it launched (REZZ, Feed Me, No Mana).
But what exactly did he give up?
This wasn’t just a master rights cash-out. It’s a structured joint venture — future releases can still run through the pipeline they now co-own. Joel keeps his creative output moving, but CMG now helps steer the ship. Licensing decisions, monetization, syncs—those now run through their system. Whether he kept approval rights on how the catalog is used? That’s not public. And probably for a reason.
Who’s CMG — And What Do They Actually Do?
Create Music Group, aka CMG, is a rights-focused digital music company founded in 2015 by Jonathan Strauss and Alexandre Williams. They started by scraping unpaid YouTube royalties and now operate a massive distribution and monetization platform for creators, indie labels, and music IP holders.
CMG manages over 9 billion streams/month
Backed by private equity firm Flexpoint Ford, valued at over $1 billion
They’ve acquired Monstercat, !K7, Pack Records, Enhanced—and now Mau5trap
CMG’s core strength is data-informed catalog management. They specialize in licensing, syncs, branded partnerships, and long-tail streaming optimization. They don’t just buy music—they operationalize it. If that sounds clinical, it is. But it’s also effective.
Has deadmau5 Reached God-Tier in Video Games?
deadmau5 and video games have always co-existed. His whole ethos fits the architecture:
Streams gameplay and studio work on Twitch
Collaborated with Dota 2, The Sandbox, early Fortnite events
Launched Meowingtons Simulator in 2025, a glitchy Unreal Engine sandbox filled with deadmau5-verse deep cuts
This isn’t branding. This is just what he does. He thinks in layers—sound, visuals, interactivity. Games give him the kind of modular control traditional music never could.
So What Did He Really Gain?
He basically sold legacy weight. For $55 million, he bought a nice life AND the ability to go full throttle into interactive worlds, real-time engine builds, and whatever post-label weirdness he dreams up.
We don’t know how many strings are still attached. We don’t know if CMG has final say on future repackaging or legacy use. And with private equity behind them, the pressure to squeeze every drop of ROI from that catalog could be relentless. Time will tell.
Love Him? Hate Him? At Least You Could Respect the Good Parts
Joel isn’t cuddly. He’s not brand-safe. He’s blunt, obsessive, sometimes a little reckless. But he doesn’t fake it. He doesn’t posture. He doesn’t vibe-chase. He wants to make stuff and be left alone to do it well.
So yeah, he technically sold out. Strobe might score an allergy or depression commercial. Raise Your Weapon might sell protein powder or a BeachBody workout. I will probably actually loathe that entire part of this. But, does Joel, the hau5 of mau5, actually care? With $55M in the bank, probably not.
The question now isn’t what he lost — it’s what he builds from here on out. That’s the phase I’m gonna be focusing in on like the weirdo internet person I AM.
One thing is FOR SURE: It definitely will be interesting to see what he does in this next phase of his career.
Be weird. Be loud. Be the anomaly. And shut it the fuck down. ✌️
