View All Case Studies

Black 17 Media

Record Label

Key Metrics

7500+

unlicensed uses identified

5x

increase in licensing revenue

$

$XXXk

Revenue Recovered

$

$XXXk

Revenue Recovered

Executive Summary

Black 17 Media built one of the most influential catalogs in underground electronic music, but as its music spread across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and broader internet culture, brands increasingly used those tracks in commercial campaigns without securing proper licenses. To address this, Black 17 partnered with Third Chair to implement a systematic enforcement and licensing workflow — identifying unauthorized brand uses at scale, prioritizing high-value advertisers, and converting unlicensed activity into compliant, revenue-generating deals. Through Third Chair, Black 17 achieved a 5x increase in licensing revenue after six months, identified more than 7,500 unlicensed uses, and established a repeatable, scalable framework to protect its catalog while capturing value from the cultural momentum already driving its growth.

Introduction

Founded in 2015, Black 17 Media has become a global force in underground electronic music, with a particular footprint in the phonk movement — a genre rooted in 1990s Memphis rap and reimagined for the internet era. Powered by a disciplined release cadence and a digitally native marketing strategy, Black 17 has built one of the most influential catalogs in modern underground music. The roster includes viral breakout records such as “MURDER IN MY MIND” by Kordhell and “CLOSE EYES” by DVRST — both of which have become cultural fixtures across TikTok, streaming platforms, and gaming communities. Over the past year alone, Black 17 Media has generated 8.2 billion Spotify streams and collaborated with marquee artists including Diplo and Artemas.

Challenge

Black 17 Media’s success across social platforms created an unintended challenge. As tracks from its catalog became embedded in viral short-form content, they were increasingly adopted by brands and advertisers looking to capitalize on trending sounds and internet-driven culture. While some companies proactively licensed the music, many commercial uses occurred without authorization—including paid social campaigns, influencer partnerships, and branded content distributed at scale across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. What began as organic cultural momentum quickly evolved into a complex IP enforcement problem.

The challenges were clear:

Tracking down thousands of unauthorized commercial uses
Contacting advertisers and managing negotiations
Converting brand use into predictable licensing revenue
Maintaining this licensing revenue engine at scale, without diverting resources from essential operations

Solution

That’s when Black 17 Media partnered with Third Chair to help enforce its copyrights and recover owed licensing revenue at scale.

Working with Third Chair, Black 17 was able to bring a clear, no-brainer solution to artists and catalog partners whose music was being used commercially across social platforms without authorization. Instead of relying on ad hoc enforcement or manual outreach, Black 17 gained a repeatable system for identifying, prioritizing, and monetizing brand use of its catalog.

Through the partnership, Black 17 was able to:

Monitor major social platforms and detect 7500+ commercial brand uses of its music across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and paid social campaigns
Prioritize high-value opportunities by focusing on large advertisers, agencies, and high-reach campaigns.
Contact and negotiate licensing agreements with advertisers using their music, converting unauthorized use into revenue.

This approach allowed Black 17 to extend its existing release and marketing engine with a parallel monetization layer—capturing value from the same cultural momentum that was already driving streams, trends, and audience growth.

Result

With this system in place, Black 17 began converting opportunities into measurable licensing outcomes. After just six months of working with Third Chair, Black17 Media was able to achieve meaningful, repeatable results: