Africa's first credit-rating standard for creative IP

The standard banks can underwrite against.

CARM is a standardised credit-rating framework for music and creative IP — the methodology a bank's credit committee can cite, audit and lend against. Licensed to financial institutions, development-finance bodies and governments, powered by the patent-pending MLT Method™.

Evaluating a single catalogue? Run a free indicative CARM Score →
CARM™ RatingWorked example
57
CARM SCORE / 100
CARM-C · Developing
Appraised value
$93,754
Confidence
±28%
Net facility
$24,690
Discount rate
9.4%
Powered by the MLT Method™ WIPO-Certified IP Trainer Patent-pending methodology An Intangible Africa™ standard 300+ engagements since 2017
The opportunity

A proven global asset class — priced at a fraction in Africa.

Music IP is now an institutional asset class. The gap isn't value; it's legibility — and that gap is a measurable discount CARM closes.

$6.8B
Global music-catalogue finance market in 2024, on track to ~$15.8B by 2033.
$4.4B
Music-backed debt raised in 2025 alone by funds like Blackstone & Carlyle.
BlackRock
Blackstone
KKR
Global institutions now treat catalogues as a durable, yield-bearing asset.
$0
What an African artist with consistent streaming income can typically borrow against it.
12–20×
Annual royalties — what global catalogues trade at
vs
2–4×
Annual royalties — where African catalogues sit today
Same music. Same streams. A fraction of the value — because the framework is missing, not the merit. CARM is that framework.
The gap

Lenders recognise the value. They just can't underwrite it.

There's no standardised, defensible methodology a credit committee can reference when an African artist presents a catalogue as collateral. The result: significant creative wealth locked out of the formal financial system.

Without a rating standard

Creative income is real but illegible to capital.

  • No methodology a credit committee can cite
  • Valuations bespoke, slow and unrepeatable
  • Western models ignore diaspora & cultural value
  • No comparative data to contextualise a catalogue

With CARM

A common, auditable language for creative-asset risk.

  • A 0–100 score & band a credit committee can defend
  • A repeatable rating with a full audit trail
  • Africa-calibrated multiples & a Cultural Impact Adjustment
  • A growing benchmark of comparable catalogues
How it works

From catalogue data to a credit-committee-ready rating.

1

Ingest

Streaming, royalties, territory, ISRC, copyright and PRO status populate the catalogue profile — automatically wherever the data is machine-readable.

2

Rate

The MLT Method™ scores Market, Legal and Technology into one 0–100 CARM™ Score, band, implied discount rate and LTV — with a transparent breakdown.

3

Certify

The output is a signed, white-label, lender-ready report with a confidence band and a full input/output audit log for credit-committee review.

Market
50%
+
Legal
25%
+
Technology
25%
=
CARM
0–100 score
The rating scale

Four bands. One standard.

CARM-A · 80–100
Prime
Strong catalogue, clean title, low risk.
LTV 55–65%
CARM-B · 65–79
Standard
Growing catalogue, moderate risk.
LTV 40–54%
CARM-C · 50–64
Developing
Limited track record, elevated risk.
LTV 25–39%
CARM-D · <50
Speculative
Insufficient data; not collateral-ready.
LTV n/a
Behind the standard

Institutions license from recognised experts — not anonymous fintechs.

Akeem Omobolaji Famuyiwa, FIAM
Creator of CARM™ & the MLT Method™ · Founder, Fractional IP Consulting
  • WIPO-Certified IP Trainer
  • COSTECH Technical Facilitator · NM-AIST Lead IP Trainer
  • Top 25 Emerging IP Player
  • Pioneer of Fractional Intangible Asset Management (FIAM)
  • Author of Trademark Economy
  • 300+ IP engagements across Africa & beyond since 2017

A credit-rating methodology only has value once institutions trust it. CARM enters markets through relationships built over a decade of IP commercialisation work — and through a founder whose credentials open credit-committee and development-finance doors.

CARM is to music IP what credit-rating agencies are to corporate debt — turning subjective assessment into a standardised, auditable, bankable score.

Built on the MLT Method™ (Market · Legal · Technology) — patent-pending and calibrated to African realities Western models miss: diaspora streaming, cultural multipliers, mobile-money royalty flows and fragmented PRO coverage.

License the standard

Three layers. Adopt one, two, or all three.

CARM is licensed to institutions across three layers — from the methodology itself, to the rating engine, to the comparative benchmark that grows more valuable with every catalogue rated.

Layer 1

Methodology Licence

$8–18k/yr banks · $15–40k/yr DFI & gov
For lenders & DFIs adopting CARM into credit policy
  • Full CARM™ Methodology Manual
  • MLT scoring templates for credit workflows
  • Discount-rate calibration tables by jurisdiction
  • Annual methodology updates
License the methodology
★ Layer 2

Rating Engine

$150–500 per rating · API
For platforms & institutions issuing ratings at volume
  • REST API — catalogue data in, CARM™ Score out
  • M·L·T subscores, discount rate, LTV, confidence band
  • White-label, co-branded lender-ready reports
  • Full audit trail on every rating
Get engine access
Layer 3

Benchmark Database

$5–12k/yr · from 200+ rated catalogues
For investors & institutions needing comparables
  • Comparative data across the rated universe
  • “How does this catalogue compare to East Africa?”
  • The Bloomberg-style reference for creative IP
  • Available as the dataset reaches critical mass
Join the waitlist
Evaluating before you license? Run a single catalogue through the engine for a free indicative CARM Score.
Launch the engine →
Indicative pricing for planning purposes; institutional licences are scoped per engagement and jurisdiction.
Who it's for

Adopted by institutions. Built for the whole market.

Tier 1

DFIs & development bodies

Underpin creative-economy financing programmes with a defensible, standardised rating framework.

Tier 2

Governments & agencies

Adopt CARM as national infrastructure for creative-asset finance and IP policy.

Tier 3

Commercial banks

Price and collateralise creative-IP loans with a rating and LTV your credit committee can defend.

Tier 4

Distributors & platforms

White-label the engine to rate your roster — a new financeability service line.

Investors

Funds & investors

Screen and compare catalogues on a common scale, with benchmarked, auditable valuations.

Supply

Artists & rights holders

Prove what your catalogue is worth — and raise against it without losing your rights.

Worked example

A real catalogue, rated end-to-end.

CARM Score
57 · C
Appraised value
$93.8K
Net facility
$24.7K
Data ingested
21 mo.

36 tracks. 21 months of data. One certificate.

A Tanzanian gospel catalogue — most of its streams from outside its home market — was rated directly from its distribution statements. CARM auto-populated the Market and Technology dimensions, flagged an outstanding distributor advance as a prior claim, and produced an appraised value, a confidence band and a net financeable facility.

Home market 12%Diaspora & export 88%

It rates CARM-C today — and climbs a full band the moment its copyright and PRO documentation is verified.

Get started

Make CARM your creative-IP credit standard.

Request the Methodology White Paper and an institutional briefing. Tell us who you are and we'll route you to the right layer — methodology licence, rating engine, or benchmark access.

Prefer to explore first? Launch the rating engine →