Sony goes ga ga over Queen’s music rights … to the tune of $1.9bn

The band’s reported $1.9bn deal with Sony rivals that done for Michael Jackson’s record-breaking back catalogue.

Freddie Mercury, at Wembley Stadium 1986, was a consummate performer. Picture: Denis O’ Regan

It’s a kind of magic for Queen, who appear to have sold portions of their music catalogue for £1 billion ($1.9bn).

The three surviving members of the band and the estate of Freddie Mercury are reported to have struck a deal for their songs that rivals the record-breaking sum agreed for a stake in Michael Jackson’s back catalogue – and the complexity of the deal makes Bohemian Rhapsody look a simple composition.

The dealmakers for Sony have had to unravel the band’s complicated recording and publishing rights to account for factors including, for example, each of the four members having written a No. 1 single for the band.

Some of the North American recording rights to the band’s songs remain with Disney and other copyrights stay at Universal, but royalties from the successful 2018 Bohemian Rhapsody film are said to be included.

Variety said Sony was paying about £1 billion, adding that the deal did not include revenue from live performances by the founding members Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor, who still tour with Adam Lambert singing.

Queen band members in Tokyo, 1981: Brian May, left, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, back. Picture: Getty Images

The company has never confirmed the deals but it is widely reported to have bought Bruce Springsteen’s publishing and recording catalogues for $US500 million ($750m) and half of Jackson’s catalogues and masters for a similar sum.

Jackson’s deal was further complicated by family squabbling and the estate’s ownership of other songs, including the Sly and the Family Stone publishing catalogue.

May, Queen’s guitarist, Taylor, the band’s drummer, and John Deacon – the bass player, who retired from the band in 1997 – were already among Britain’s richest musicians with regular eight-figure incomes via Queen Productions, the company capturing their earnings. Mary Austin, the close friend of Mercury, the singer, who died in 1991 from an AIDS-related illness, is also a beneficiary.

The Queen deal highlights the riches investors believe lie in the hits of the past. Billboard magazine estimates that the Jackson catalogues earned the estate nearly pounds 60 million a year.

Queen’s broad back catalogue, from Radio Ga Ga to Don’t Stop Me Now, was brought to the attention of new generations and continents by the 2018 biopic, starring Rami Malek as Mercury.

Mercury was credited with Queen’s 1975 breakout song, Bohemian Rhapsody. Picture: Bob King/Redferns

The Sunday Times Rich List reported that earnings at Queen Productions were £73 million in that financial year.

The many platforms on which old and new songs can now capture attention – such as TikTok and YouTube – and ease of access to music through streaming services such as Spotify have lured investors, with older musicians keen on one last payday.

Songs can be catapulted to global attention in films and television productions. Kate Bush’s 1985 hit, Running Up That Hill, reached millions of new listeners when it featured prominently in Netflix hit Stranger Things.

Complicated personal histories between band members have in the past however made already complex deals hard to secure.

David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright of Pink Floyd. Picture: Getty Images

A £400 million deal for the Pink Floyd catalogues has reportedly stalled in part because of the prickly relations between the members Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

Bob Dylan split his catalogues, with the recording rights going to Sony and the song rights to Universal for a reported $US550 million.

Variety said Sony had been fighting for the Queen catalogues with another party having dropped out at just over £700 million – Universal had previously been negotiating a deal.

One complication in Queen’s reported deal, which has been at least two years in the making, would have been the rare situation that each member composed a No.1 single.

Mercury was credited with their 1975 breakout song, Bohemian Rhapsody, May with We Will Rock You in 1977, Another One Bites the Dust was by Deacon and Taylor composed Radio Ga Ga.

The surviving members will presumably be singing We Are the Champions.

The Times