Sony – Rock Era Magazine https://rockeramagazine.com The Risa of a New Era! Fri, 04 Oct 2024 17:57:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 Sony Music reportedly in talks to buy Queen’s music catalogue for $1bn https://rockeramagazine.com/sony-queen-1bn/ Fri, 04 Oct 2024 17:54:18 +0000 https://www.rockeramagazine.com/?p=42246 Sony Music is in talks to buy Queen’s music catalogue, which includes songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody and Radio Gaga, in a potential $1bn (£800m) deal, according to Bloomberg.

Sony is said to be working with another investor on the transaction that would be the largest sale of its kind and include merchandising and other business opportunities, according to the Bloomberg report, which said talks were continuing and might not result in a deal.

Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the estate of Freddie Mercury are equal shareholders in Queen Productions Ltd, which reported revenues of $52m in the year ended September 2022, according to company filings.

In recent years there has been a frenzy to acquire music catalogues, which have attracted billions of dollars in investments from specialist investment funds and private equity companies such as KKR and Blackstone, competing for deals against traditional music companies.

Pink Floyd strikes a deal with Sony to sell their music catalog for $400 million. Read more.

Songwriting catalogues are seen as attractive investments because they can be used for decades in films, played on the radio or used for advertisements – all producing royalties for the owners of the rights.

Bruce Springsteen’s back catalogue was sold to Sony in 2021 for an estimated $500m, while Neil Young and Bob Dylan have struck deals in the hundreds of millions. In 2022 Warner Music acquired David Bowie’s songbook for about $250m.

This year, Sony acquired a 50% interest in Michael Jackson’s music catalogue from the late singer’s estate for at least $600m, Billboard reported.

However, some investments have fared less well. The British music royalties investment fund Hipgnosis, which owns the rights to songs by artists from Beyoncé to Neil Young, agreed to a $1.6bn takeover by Blackstone, the private equity house, last month after months of turmoil over the company’s structure and leadership.

Hipgnosis launched a strategic review last year to assess its business options after a revolt by shareholders over a planned catalogue sell-off.

Sony Music and Disney Music Group, which owns the Queen rights in North America, have been contacted for comment.

A spokesperson for Queen declined to comment.

]]> Pink Floyd strikes a deal with Sony to sell their music catalog for $400 million https://rockeramagazine.com/pink-floyd-sony-400m/ Fri, 04 Oct 2024 17:50:25 +0000 https://www.rockeramagazine.com/?p=42242

Pink Floyd has reportedly reached a deal with Sony to sell their music catalog, as well as their name and likeness, for about $400m.

The British rock band agreed to sell the rights to their recorded music catalog, their name and their likeness, but not the rights to their songwriting, according to the Financial Times, who first reported the news of the deal on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The agreement, described by Variety on Wednesday as “one of the largest of many in recent years”, comes after years of reported feuding and infighting between the surviving band members over the sale details, as well as about controversial comments made by the band’s co-founder and bassist, Roger Waters, which also reportedly complicated the deal process.

Last month, Variety reported that Pink Floyd and Sony were working on a deal.

As of Wednesday morning, Sony had not released a statement or responded to a comment on the reported deal, according to the Financial Times. David Gilmour, the band’s guitarist, had also not responded to a request for comment, and Waters could not be reached.

In 2022, Variety reported that Pink Floyd had been looking to sell their recorded music and other assets for as much as $500m. Sources told the outlet that some potential buyers were put off after a 2022 interview with Waters in Rolling Stone, in which he made controversial comments about Israel, Ukraine, Russia and the United States.

Sony Music reportedly in talks to buy Queen’s music catalogue for $1bn. Read more.

Among the statements, Waters has said that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine was “not unprovoked”. Russia invited Waters to address the UN security council in early 2023, where he repeated the claim.

Four sources claimed in March of 2023 to Variety that the band’s $500m catalog sale of the rights was “basically dead” due to conflicts between the surviving band members. But, sources close to the band at the time denied this claim.

Later that year, Waters was investigated by Berlin police over a Nazi-style uniform he wore at a concert there. In the same year, he won a legal battle allowing him to perform a concert in Frankfurt, Germany, after the city attempted to cancel the event amid accusations of antisemitism.

The city called Waters “one of the most widely known antisemites in the world” and reportedly objected to his concert in part due to the fact that a previous tour had featured a balloon shaped like a pig depicting the star of David and various company logos, as a part of the stage show.

Waters has always denied accusations of antisemitism.

In early 2024, it was reported that Waters was dropped as a solo artist by the music rights company BMG, which signed an agreement with the musician in 2016, over his comments about Israel, Ukraine and the US.

Pink Floyd’s recorded music catalog is one of the most valuable in contemporary music, according to Variety. The band’s most famous albums include The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and more.

Over the last few years, other high-profile artists including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and others have sold their music catalogs to different music labels. Earlier this year, it was reported that Sony was in talks to buy Queen’s catalog.

Source: The Guardian

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