Sony Music is in talks to buy Queen’s catalog, which includes hits like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are the Champions,” for $1 billion (€920 million).
The record label is said to be working with an outside investor to buy the rights to the rock band’s songs – which would be the biggest of its kind and would include commercial and other business opportunities, According to the Guardian.
Negotiations are ongoing, but their conclusion does not guarantee that an agreement will be reached, Bloomberg reports. Surviving band members Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, as well as the estate of the late Freddie Mercury, are equal shareholders in Queen Productions Ltd, which handles the rights to the band’s songs.
The company reported revenue of $52 million (€48 million) for the fiscal year ending September 2022. In recent years there has been a frenzy to acquire music catalogs, attracting billions in investment from specialist investment funds and private equity firms such as KKR and Blackstone. – competing with traditional record label offerings.
The song catalogs of famous bands and artists are considered attractive investments because they can be used in movies and TV series, played on the radio or heard in commercials for decades – all sources of income for copyright owners.
Bruce Springsteen’s back catalog was sold to Sony Music for about $500 million (€426.4 million), while two other rock veterans, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, signed deals in the hundreds of millions. In 2022, Warner Music acquired the late David Bowie’s catalog of songs for $250 million (€231.2 million).
Sony Music acquired the rights to Michael Jackson’s music catalog from the late star’s heirs this year for at least $600 million (€555 million), according to a report by Billboard magazine, which charts the music industry.
However, some related investments did not go so smoothly. British music rights investment fund Hipgnosis, which owns the rights to the catalogs of artists from Beyoncé to Neil Young, agreed to buy Blackstone for $1.6 billion (€1.48 billion) last month.
Prior to that, there had been months of turmoil over the company’s structure and leadership following the impending acquisition. Hipgnosis launched a strategic review last year evaluating its business options following a shareholder revolt against Blackstone’s takeover of the company.