Sony Music Seeks to Buy Queen's Music Catalogue for $1 Billion
Sony Music is in talks to buy the music catalogue of the legendary British rock band Queen, Bloomberg reports, citing close sources. Discussions are expected to cover an amount of up to one billion dollars (about 925 million euros), making it one of the largest transactions in the music catalogue industry.
The deal will also include merchandising rights.
Currently, Queen's music catalogue, which includes hits such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Don't Stop Me Now’, ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ and ‘We Will Rock You’, is owned by band members Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the administrators of the estate of iconic singer Freddie Mercury. Queen Productions Ltd.
The company had a turnover of £40.9 million (approximately €48 million) in the financial year ended at the end of September 2022.
The value of music catalogues has increased significantly in recent years, in particular due to the growth of paid streaming services. Artists are increasingly choosing to monetise their catalogues by selling them to investors.
Earlier this year, Sony acquired half of US pop star Michael Jackson's music catalogue from his property managers for at least $600 million, according to media reports. In 2022, American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan sold his records to Sony.
As The Gaze wrote, the famous rock band Kiss sold its previous song catalogue, brand, stage image and intellectual property to a Swedish music investor for more than $300 million.