Looking at today’s artists, it ain’t hard to tell that Black music is big business.

The creme de la creme of stars is securing the bag, whether cashing out on multimillion-dollar catalog acquisition deals, playing a multi-country festival like Rolling Loud, or starting a money-generating YouTube channel to give fans exclusive access to life as a musician. But even though Black artists have more individualism, creative freedom, and potential for astronomical wealth than ever before, who’s really running the industry? Black music or white business?

Most artists who have reached massive success are or have been guided by white executives—Lucian Grainge, Lyor Cohen, Clive Davis, and Jimmy Iovine, etc.—or signed to a Black subsidiary of a white-owned conglomerate. That’s not to say that Black owners, from Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, and Sylvia Rhone to Master P, Diddy, and Jay-Z, haven’t historically nurtured icons and released record-breaking hits.

Even today, labels like OVO Sound and Quality Control Music have pushed Black music farther than imagined. But as the industry matures, it’s time for us to consider the true goal of our culture-shifting tunes: Is it more wealth or more ownership?

Co-founder of LVRN and star-maker Justice Baiden is among those Black execs in the new era of music championing the continuance of the legacy previous Black owners have set forth. “Having ownership and dictating your culture is very important,” he told Complex. “It's not yours if you can't really own it.”

Watch the latest episode of BET INDEX to explore how Black innovators continue to build wealth and regain ownership in the music business.