Golnar Khosrowshahi was at the vanguard of the music rights explosion, investing in song catalogues since 2007. Now, she and her company Reservoir are part of a more crowded market in the very valuable music publishing field, but remain major players, consistently ranking in the top 10 of Billboard’s Publishers Quarterly market share report with $158.7 million in the 2025 fiscal year. Based in the U.S., Khosrowshahi remains a proud Canadian, with Reservoir holding a seat on the board of Music Publishers Canada. She also maintains special partnerships with national treasures like k.d. lang and Joni Mitchell, who received a special lifetime achievement celebration at this year’s Juno Awards. That’s not the only legend in their orbit. The company has signed recent deals with artists like Snoop Dogg and the late Miles Davis. Khosrowshahi sees the global future of music, and is making inroads in the MENA region and South Asia through partnerships and subsidiaries PopArabia and PopIndia. She is planning for a future where hits will transcend borders, languages and cultures. It wouldn’t be the first time she was ahead of the curve.

David Quilico was promoted this year from vice president of creative at Sony Music Publishing Canada. Together with Mishelle Pack, who leads creative A&R, and the SMP team, he’s helping lead the company into its new era. Sony Music Publishing is the global market share leader in the music publishing sector, and in Canada they’re focused on the next generation of songwriters and growing global sounds, which they’re developing through cross-continental songwriting camps between Nigeria, India and more. They work with Punjabi sonic architects like AP Dhillon, Gminxr, Intense, Gurinder Gill, Latin producers Demy & Clipz, emerging songwriter Jade LeMac, Lights, Billy Talent, Mother Mother and many more. Together, they account for billions of global streams.

Michael McCarty is a legend of the music publishing industry in Canada, with a hand in many of the top rock acts of the ‘90s and 2000s, from Sum 41 to Billy Talent to City and Colour. Now CEO and co-founder of Kilometre Music Group, alongside president Rodney Murphy, he’s at the helm of a rights acquisition player that has built the Barometer Global Music Royalty Fund, a US$200 million catalogue portfolio spanning more than 4,000 songs, including 70 titles in the Spotify Billions Club and nine of the 25 most-streamed songs in Spotify history (four by The Weeknd, Drake’s “One Dance,” Post Malone's “Sunflower” and many more). Highlights this year include two big hits from Don Toliver — the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart hit “E85” co-written by Canadian producer Aaron Paris and the 100 million-stream “ATM,” produced by Prince 85, multiple co-writes and co-productions on Drake’s Iceman trilogy by Eli Brown and more. As Kilometre marks its fifth anniversary, McCarty continues to expand his influence across the global music rights economy.

Diane Pinet has built Bloc Notes Music into one of the most consistent hitmakers in Quebec’s francophone music scene with a catalogue of songs that has been recorded by icons like Céline Dion, Faith Hill, Serena Ryder, Stromae, Roch Voisine and more. Over the last year alone, the company placed more than 31 songs on the Mediabase Top 50, with Bloc Notes titles appearing in the chart’s “Success of the Week” or “Strong Reaction” categories for 45 out of 52 weeks. Songs by artists and writers including Gabriel Fredette, Fred Dionne, William Cloutier and Laurence St-Martin helped give the company consistently strong Quebec chart runs this year. Bloc Notes also continued its long-standing recognition within the publishing world, earning repeated honours from ADISQ, SOCAN and the music publishing community, while Pinet was re-elected to both the SOCAN and Music Publishers Canada boards.

Peermusic is one of the biggest global independent music publishing and neighbouring rights companies with offices in 33 countries. In Canada, Peermusic played a key role in one of Canada’s biggest ever pop culture moments and cultural exports: Heated Rivalry. Working with general manager Cheryl Link and reporting to new president of U.S. and Canada James Cerreta, Neville Quinlan spent most of 2025 working on deals for film and television and music libraries, including that viral breakout Canadian TV series and its Peter Peter-composed soundtrack. Quinlan was behind another major success after helping Teddy Swims sign to collect neighbouring rights for his 2024 chart-topping single “Lose Control,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. The company works with artist songwriters including iconic names like Kate and Anna McGarrigle, David Foster and The Tragically Hip, whose songs soundtracked a well-received new stage musical, It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, in Hamilton.