Queen Officially Sell Music Rights For Over $1 Billion

UPDATE (June 20, 2024): Queen have officially sold their recording, publishing and other music rights to Sony Music for $1.27 billion after rumors of a 10-figure sale emerged earlier this month. The news was first reported by Hits, which states that Sony has also acquired name and likeness rights, but Broadway rights and “other brand monetization” are not part of the deal.

Queen are reportedly in talks to sell their catalog to Sony Music for $1 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The report states that Sony are “working with another investor” on the deal that “could potentially total $1 billion,” though it doesn’t guarantee that an agreement will be made. If the deal is a success, it could include merchandising, in addition to their music and other entities.

BBC notes that the deal will be the biggest of its kind if it goes through, beating Bruce Springsteen’s $550 million deal with Sony in late 2021.

Music Business Worldwide first revealed that Queen had a potential $1 billion deal in the works last May, which would include all of the publishing and recorded music rights of Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the estate of late vocalist Freddie Mercury.

However, the band’s recorded music rights are owned by different companies in different parts of the world. Disney Music Group has ownership of the rights in North America, while the group’s own Queen Productions Ltd. and Queen Music Ltd. have ownership of the recording and publishing catalogs in the rest of the world, respectively.

READ MORE: Why Musical Artists Are Selling Their Catalog Rights

If Queen and Sony come to an agreement, they’ll be one of many massive rock artists who’ve sold their catalog in recent years. In April, KISS sold their music catalog, name, image and logo to Pophouse Entertainment Group. The group was apparently paid $300 million in the deal.

Motley Crue, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, ZZ Top and the current lineup of Alice In Chains — Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney, Mike Inez and William DuVall — have all sold their catalogs in the last few years as well.