Good morning, creators. ☀️ Four signals worth watching at the intersection of toys and beats — and today the headline is ownership. A country superstar just launched his own label to own his masters, a soccer legend's animated series is becoming a full toy empire, horror-game costumes are marching across two continents, and one of our own horror packs is built for exactly this season. Here's what's moving.
1. Thomas Rhett launches artist-owned Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records with HYBE's Blue Highway
What happened: Thomas Rhett announced on October 6 the launch of Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records, an artist-led label built in partnership with Blue Highway Records — the Nashville company HYBE America formed when it rebranded the former Big Machine Label Group in February after Scott Borchetta's departure. Blue Highway calls it a company "built around long-term ownership, creative independence and artist development," and Rhett says the deal gives him "the opportunity to own the body of work I've spent my entire career creating." He signed to BMLG's Valory imprint back in 2011; his 25 No. 1 singles and 16 billion-plus streams now come home to his own house. (Source: Music Business Worldwide)
Why it matters: The biggest artists in the world are done renting their legacies. After the Taylor Swift masters saga rewrote the industry's understanding of catalog value, artist-owned imprints with major infrastructure behind them are becoming the new blueprint — ownership for the artist, distribution muscle from the machine.
The ETS/Zillion angle: Welcome to the model we built from day one. Ronald Steven Desiderio owns 100% of every Epic Toy Sound master, RDizzle Publishing holds 100% of every publishing share, and works and masters are registered through TuneRegistry feeding ASCAP, SoundExchange, and the MLC directly — no negotiations, no buybacks, no decades of paperwork to undo. The industry is catching up to what our catalog was designed around all along.
2. Hasbro scores the master toy license for Sony Pictures' Messi and the Giants — headed to Disney+ in 2027
What happened: Sony Pictures has kicked off its licensing program for Messi and the Giants, the sports-fantasy animated series inspired by soccer legend Lionel Messi, with Hasbro named master toy partner — action figures, playsets, role-play items, and collectibles. The series follows 12-year-old Leo, trapped in an alternate reality, defeating legendary giants in soccer-style battles; it premieres globally on Disney+ (and Disney Channel in the U.S.) next summer, with the first wave of products hitting shelves alongside it. The roster is a licensing all-star team: Adidas on footwear and apparel (its kids' shoes appear in-story — a first), Penguin Random House on worldwide publishing, Panini on stickers and collectibles, plus costumes, apparel, and home goods partners. (Source: The Toy Book)
Why it matters: This is the full-stack entertainment IP play: a global sports icon, an animated series on the biggest kids' streamer, and a master toy partner building a physical world kids can hold. When every screen appearance has a matching shelf product, fandom becomes a flywheel — and the toy aisle becomes the marketing department.
The ETS/Zillion angle: We live where those flywheels start: figures. Every Epic Toy Sound cover begins with a toy photographed by one of our 250+ collaborators — the same collector culture Hasbro is banking on. Browse the action figures that spark our covers, and note the playbook: character first, world second, products third. Sound is the missing layer in most licensing empires — and ours is original, one-stop licensed, and ready before the series airs.
3. Disguise takes Poppy Playtime costumes across EMEA and North America for Halloween
What happened: Costume giant Disguise — the dress-up division of JAKKS Pacific with a 36-year legacy — has signed a multi-year licensing agreement to design, manufacture, and sell costumes and accessories for Poppy Playtime, the episodic horror survival game from Mob Entertainment, across EMEA and North America starting this autumn. The numbers explain the bet: Poppy-related content has topped 5 billion views on TikTok and a billion on YouTube, and the franchise's Chapter 5 launch in February was its biggest ever. Costumes land in-store and online this fall — right in time for Halloween. (Source: Toy World Magazine)
Why it matters: Viral horror is a merch machine. Gaming IPs that live on short-form video and cosplay convert fandom into physical products faster than almost any category — and Halloween is the annual conversion event. Whoever owns the look AND the sound of spooky season wins October.
The ETS/Zillion angle: Disguise is selling the look of Halloween — we already sell its sound. Our Monster Within horror soundscape pack gives creators eight original dark-trap tracks purpose-built for spooky reels, unboxings, and figure videos — one-stop licensed, no clearance drama, ready to drop into a Halloween edit today. Costumes get the photo; our audio gets the views.
4. Haunt Your Reels: Monster Within — Manyakfunks' 8-track horror soundscape pack for creators
What happened: Epic Toy Sound spotlights Haunt Your Reels: Monster Within — the 8-track horror soundscape / dark trap pack from ETS family collaborator Manyakfunks (cover art by Manyakfunks), released September 2 on Zillion Records. Eight original tracks built for creators: horror scores, dark-trap beats, and cinematic soundscapes for reels, shorts, unboxings, and figure videos — delivered as instant digital downloads through the Toys and Beats store ($5.99). Manyakfunks is riding a hot streak: the horror double-feature spotlight just ran on the Toys and Beats blog on October 5, and Monster Within is the pack behind the sound. (Source: Epic Toy Sound / Zillion Records)
Why it matters: October is the Super Bowl for spooky content — and every creator shooting horror reels this month needs one thing they can license without thinking twice. Creator audio that is original, affordable, and instantly downloadable beats a DMCA takedown every single time.
The ETS/Zillion angle: This is the whole machine in one product: a global collaborator (Manyakfunks) makes the art, Epic Toy Sound owns the masters and publishing outright, and creators get one-stop licensed originals through the digital audio packs collection. No clearance chains, no split sheets — just press play on Halloween. And the releases keep coming: the No Stop EP drops Friday, October 10 — pre-save it here.
That's the morning — four signals, one direction: own the rights, own the brand, own the lane. Artist-owned labels are the industry's new blueprint, licensing empires are built character-first, Halloween belongs to whoever owns the look and the sound — and the machine keeps shipping. NYCC opens tomorrow. See you at Booth 1771. One love. ✌️
🎧 Monster Within — 8-track horror soundscape pack, $5.99
Manyakfunks. Eight original horror-trap tracks. Cover art by the artist. Instant digital download, one-stop licensed for your reels and shorts.
And the No Stop EP lands Friday, October 10 — pre-save on HyperFollow. Daily visualizers premiering all week on the Epic Toy Sound YouTube channel.