Paul Simon Sells His Stake in Simon & Garfunkel Recordings
Paul Simon is the latest artist to sell off the rights to his catalog recordings. In a press release from BMG, the company announced it purchased Simon’s “royalty income in…
Paul Simon is the latest artist to sell off the rights to his catalog recordings.
In a press release from BMG, the company announced it purchased Simon's "royalty income in Simon & Garfunkel recordings as well as his neighboring rights income."
BMG’s President of Repertoire & Marketing Thomas Scherer said in a statement, "In any list of the true greats, Paul Simon stands as one of the pillars of popular music history. We will play our part to ensure his music continues to be honored and respected."
The price tag of Simon's deal with BMG was not disclosed. This is the latest catalog deal BMG has landed in recent years. Other artists that have brokered rights deals with BMG include Tina Turner, Motley Crue, Mick Fleetwood, ZZ Top and more.
Simon's deal is the latest in an ongoing trend of artists selling off portions of or their entire catalog. Keep scrolling to see which artists finalized catalog deals in 2022!
Artists Who Have Sold Their Catalogs in 2022
One of the biggest trends of 2021 was artists selling their catalogs for massive paydays. In 2022, that trend has continued.
Here are some of the biggest names in rock and classic rock/pop who have cashed in on selling their catalogs, music rights, publishing rights and more in 2022.
David Bowie
Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesIn January 2022, it was announced the Bowie estate brokered a nine-figure deal upwards of $250 million with Warner Chappell Music for the singers publishing catalog. The deal included the songs featured on Bowie's 26 studio albums, posthumous releases, his two studio albums with Tin Machine and other stand-alone singles.
Nancy Wilson
Kristin Murphy/Getty ImagesWilson sold her Heart catalog rights to Round Hill Music in a deal announced in January 2022. The cost of the deal was not disclosed.
Sting
Andrew Toth/Getty ImagesSting made a massive splash in February 2022 selling his entire catalog -- both solo and his music with The Police -- to Universal Music Publishing Group. While Universal did not disclose the price tag of this deal, 'The New York Times' reported the deal is worth at least $250 million or more.
Neil Diamond
Theo Wargo/Getty ImagesAfter Sting's blockbuster sale, Universal Music Publishing Group announced just over two weeks later they purchased the catalog of Neil Diamond. The worldwide agreement included Diamond's entire catalog including 110 unreleased tracks, an unreleased album and archival long form videos. The cost of the deal was not disclosed but was estimated to be nine-figures.
Phil Collins/Genesis
Patrick Balls/Martin GriffinIn September 2022, 'The Wall Street Journal' reported the music rights for Phil Collins and Genesis, along with some of the music of Mike + the Mechanics, sold to Concord Music Group Inc. for a reported $300 million.
Joey Ramone
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesIn October 2022, 'The Wall Street Journal' reported Primary Wave acquired a majority stake in Joey Ramone's music-publishing catalog. The deal cost about $10 million and included all of Ramone's songwriting interests.
