Universal Music is about to achieve a huge blow. A historic move, even: recovering the music catalog of the legendary band Queen. The British group has been with Disney Music Group since the 1990s. Negotiations between the two music giants are “on track” and could be concluded “within a month”, according to a source familiar with the matter, who is entrusted to CNN.
If agreed, the transaction would amount to more than a billion dollars (933,180 million euros): a sales record for a music catalog, so far held by Bruce Springsteen, who had sold his music catalog to Sony Music for approximately $500 million.
Other artists have recently made the decision to sell their catalog: Justin Bieber, in January 2023, for $200 million at Hipgnosis; Sting went to Universal (through its Publishing subsidiary) for $300 million; David Bowie’s catalog is now at Warner Music, worth more than $250 million.
Taylor Swift was at war with Scooter Braun, who bought the label where the songs of the singer were. The latter sold the rights to an investment fund for $300 million. She even re-recorded old albums with a new label to “allow fans to listen to the albums without feeling guilty about enriching Scooter.” The latter had indeed offered an agreement to the American singer: to buy back his own work, but, in exchange, to insert a clause prohibiting criticism of the producer. An offer obviously refused.
