Good morning, creators. ☀️ Welcome to Day 11 of the Toys and Beats Morning Report — your daily scan of the signals moving music licensing, brand licensing, and the toy world. Four signals worth watching today, and the last one is a three-way collab from inside the family. Let's get into it.
Global Licensing Hits $389.8 Billion — and Licensed Toys Are Outrunning the Toy Market
What happened: As Brand Licensing Europe opened at ExCeL London (October 6–8), sponsor Licensing International released its Global Licensing Industry Study: worldwide sales of licensed merchandise and services rose 5.45% to $389.8 billion in 2025, with Europe up 3.8% to $82.4 billion. New Circana data released the same day showed licensed toys surging 20% across the EU5 against 8% growth for toys overall — licensed products now account for more than one in three European toy sales, with Pokémon still the #1 toy property. (Source: GlobeNewswire)
Why it matters: Licensing isn't a side hustle on top of the toy business anymore — in Europe it IS the growth engine, growing two and a half times faster than the wider market.
The ETS/Zillion angle: This is the water we swim in. Epic Toy Sound and Zillion were built as licensing infrastructure first: we own the catalog, the masters, and the publishing, and we platform global artists through toy/sound collabs. When licensed product is 35% of the toy market and climbing, the brands holding their own IP — like every figure in our action figures collection and every track in the catalog — hold the leverage.
John Legend Teams With Bilt — an Album Rollout That Pays Students' Rent
What happened: Bilt named John Legend its October Rent Day collaborator, tying the campaign to his new album Muse, out October 23 and produced and co-written with Pharrell Williams. Members get a Bilt-exclusive vinyl edition with a custom cover, a shot at a private October 21 show in San Francisco, and the Rent Free game show — and Bilt will help cover rent for 50 students at Morehouse College, Central State University, Wilberforce University, and Legend's alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, with members able to donate points to Scholarship America. (Source: BusinessWire)
Why it matters: The artist-brand deal has evolved past the logo slap. Bilt bought an album rollout, an exclusive physical product, a live experience, and a cause — one partnership, four revenue and loyalty touchpoints.
The ETS/Zillion angle: This is the playbook we run at creator scale. Our releases ship the same way — music plus exclusive product plus community — except our collaborators keep ownership: every Toys and Beats drop pairs the record with the storefront, the visualizers, and the toy photography community behind it. Big brands are validating the model; independent catalogs that own their rights collect the most from it.
Big Loud Records Builds a Catalog Acquisitions Arm
What happened: Nashville's Big Loud Records has hired Dusty Miller as President of Catalog Acquisitions, a new role overseeing how the company identifies, assesses, and acquires music catalogs and other music assets. Miller brings 25+ years in financial services and 15+ in the music business — he founded Miller Wealth Sports & Entertainment and spent 13 years at Truist Bank advising music and sports clients — and CEO Seth England said the partners had long planned to add a catalog acquisition component to the business. (Source: MusicRow)
Why it matters: When a hit-driven label hires a banker to run catalog buying, it's a clear signal: durable rights, valued like financial assets, are where the long money in music now sits.
The ETS/Zillion angle: We agree with the thesis — we just run it from the owner's side of the table. Zillion's catalog is registered work-by-work through TuneRegistry at 100% to the writer and publisher, feeding ASCAP, SoundExchange, and the MLC, because a catalog only compounds if the paperwork is clean. Creators licensing sounds like our Monster Within horror soundscape pack ($5.99) are plugging into exactly that kind of owned, registered catalog.
HOUSE SPOTLIGHT: "GR8TFUL" — Epic Toy Sound feat. arsunf!st & jhonnyrhino
What happened: Today's spotlight is "GR8TFUL," the three-way collaboration from Epic Toy Sound featuring arsunf!st and jhonnyrhino, released September 25, 2026 on Zillion Records (UPC 700575198163). It's a true family build: jhonnyrhino created the cover art, arsunf!st wrote the lyrics, and the record sits in a catalog that just got bigger — Artetoyscol's No Stop EP dropped yesterday, October 10.
Why it matters: This is what the ETS model looks like on one track: a toy photographer on the artwork, a lyricist from the community on the words, and the label's own production underneath — every collaborator credited, every right registered.
The ETS/Zillion angle: Gratitude is the brand and the business model at once. Stream "GR8TFUL," spin the new No Stop EP, and browse the drops at toysandbeats.com — and for more toy photography features and artist spotlights, visit Zillion Marketplace. Every play, download, and share feeds the same catalog our 250+ collaborators build with us.
That's Day 11. Keep creating, keep collecting, keep licensing — and stay GR8TFUL. One love. ✌️