{"id":234530,"date":"2025-06-19T13:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T12:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=234530"},"modified":"2025-06-19T13:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T12:20:23","slug":"create-music-group-strikes-jv-with-star-trak-entertainment-the-neptunes-former-label","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/create-music-group-strikes-jv-with-star-trak-entertainment-the-neptunes-former-label\/","title":{"rendered":"Create Music Group strikes JV with Star Trak Entertainment, The Neptunes’ former label"},"content":{"rendered":"

Create Music Group (CMG) has formed a new joint venture with Star Trak Entertainment, along with co-founder Rob Walker.<\/p>\n

Originally launched in 2001, Star Trak Entertainment was founded by Rob Walker and producer duo Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes.<\/p>\n

The joint venture marks the official relaunch of the imprint.<\/p>\n

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In addition to co-founding Star Trak, Rob Walker was the longtime manager of The Neptunes, served as a talent agent at UTA, and co-founded Billionaire Boys Club and its Ice Cream clothing line with Pharrell Williams and Japanese fashion figure Nigo.<\/p>\n

His decades-long career spans music, fashion, and brand development alongside some of the industry\u2019s most notable acts.<\/p>\n

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The deal marks the latest in a series of recent partnerships for Create, which was valued at $1 billion\u00a0<\/strong>following a\u00a0$165-million<\/strong>\u00a0investment round\u00a0last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last month, Create\u00a0swooped for<\/a> independent electronic music label Monstercat and launched<\/a> a joint venture with Ty Dolla $ign and his EZMNY Records label earlier this month.<\/p>\n

In April, Create Music Group acquired<\/a> Berlin-headquartered independent music company !K7.<\/p>\n

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Through the partnership with Star Trak, Create said it will provide worldwide distribution, technology, and marketing services.<\/p>\n

Star Trak quickly rose to prominence through releases with acts such as Clipse, N.E.R.D., and Snoop Dogg.<\/p>\n

With RIAA certified hits such as Drop It Like It\u2019s Hot<\/em> by Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams, Grindin<\/em> by Clipse, and She Wants to Move<\/em> by N.E.R.D., Create noted that “Star Trak has long been known for shaping early-2000s hip-hop and R&B culture”.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about bringing Star Trak back \u2013 it\u2019s about building a new chapter- rooted in where we\u2019ve been, and built for where we\u2019re headed.”<\/p>\n

Rob Walker, Star Trak Entertainment<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about bringing Star Trak back \u2013 it\u2019s about building a new chapter- rooted in where we\u2019ve been, and built for where we\u2019re headed,\u201d said Rob Walker, co-founder of Star Trak Entertainment.<\/p>\n

“The energy and vision that helped shape a generation is entering a new era. With Create as our partner, we\u2019re giving artists the space to move differently, think bigger, and tap into an ecosystem of brands and collaborators that Star Trak has cultivated over the years.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are honored to partner with Rob as he kicks off the next chapter of Star Trak.”<\/p>\n

Kyle Bartelman, Create Music Group<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kyle Bartelman, Director of Global Corporate Development and M&A at Create Music Group added: \u201cWe are honored to partner with Rob as he kicks off the next chapter of Star Trak.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob\u2019s creative vision and industry experience will uniquely position our artists for success with their music and beyond. We\u2019re excited to have Star Trak join the CMG family, and we can\u2019t wait to support Rob and the next wave of Star Trak talent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Star Trak Entertainment was founded in 2001 by Rob Walker, plus Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":234532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5103],"class_list":["post-234530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-create-music-group"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}