Breaking away from traditional music industry practices, entertainment management powerhouse Milk & Honey launched its own record label in October 2025, introducing an innovative model that deliberately upends long-established conventions. Founded by Lucas Keller in 2014, the hybrid firm has strategically positioned itself to offer something unprecedented in the recording industry: master points for songwriters, a move specifically designed to empower the often-overlooked creators behind major hits.
The company, which maintains offices across Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Dallas, and London, has built a formidable reputation managing songwriters, producers, and artists whose work appears on billion-selling albums and chart-topping singles. Their 15-person creative team, the largest worldwide for songwriter representation, provides unparalleled support for their talented roster. Their client roster includes hitmakers responsible for global phenomena like Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” BTS’ “Butter,” and “Despacito,” giving them substantial industry influence to leverage in this new venture.
Milk & Honey Records, distributed through The Orchard, focuses primarily on pop and dance music genres, building on the company’s established expertise in electronic music management. The label launch comes at an interesting economic moment, with rising interest rates prompting questions about music rights valuation, yet Keller’s team remains optimistic about growth potential in streaming and developing markets. This optimism aligns with their strategy to help artists pursue sync deals as a particularly lucrative revenue stream within their diverse income portfolio. The label also offers artists comprehensive guidance on royalty structures across multiple streaming platforms, ensuring maximum earnings from their music distribution.
What truly distinguishes the label is its integration within Milk & Honey’s broader ecosystem. Unlike traditional companies that operate in silos, this venture combines management, agency functions, label services, and catalog M&A expertise under one roof. The company encourages industry followers to stay updated on their innovative approaches by signing up for their newsletter subscription form available on their website. This approach draws on the firm’s impressive track record of closing over $100 million in music rights sales and maintaining relationships with approximately 120 global buyers.
The label explicitly aims to restore what Keller calls the “artist middle class” while increasing visibility for behind-the-scenes creators. By leveraging the company’s existing infrastructure, which will host 1,800 shows on tour in 2025, Milk & Honey Records represents a significant challenge to established industry power structures, potentially creating a new template for how labels might operate in a creator-centric music economy.
