Music producer Quincy Jones is lending his name and expertise to a new stock index that tracks companies in the U.S. and around the world involved in streaming songs.
Over a prolific career spanning more than six decades, Jones has seen the way people find and enjoy new artists move from albums to cassettes to CDs to downloads to streaming.
"We're in another new business now. And we're going to get there," he said in a CNBC interview on Monday about streaming. "We've got to grow into the business now."
Streaming may be big among U.S. consumers, but it's just getting started in a lot of markets, said Donna Nairi, the founder and CEO of Iconicbeta, which is working with Jones on the Quincy 100 index.
"If you look at Japan, 75 percent of music sales are in physical format," she added, while appearing on "Closing Bell" with Jones at the Inside ETFs Conference in Hollywood, Florida. "It's exciting. The opportunity is huge."
The Quincy 100, an equally weighted index of 100 underlying stocks, allows investors to track the performance of global streaming music and media companies with at least $1 billion in market value. Companies in the index range from Apple and Amazon to Twitter and Snap.
A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission was made in June to create an exchange-traded fund based on the index. The proposed name is The Quincy Jones Streaming Music, Media & Entertainment ETF.
While acknowledging that the streaming business model is evolving, Jones did say he would like to see artists make more money.
The 27-time Grammy winner, who has worked with artists including Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, said, "Singers, songwriters and musicians have to work hard to know how to do what they do."