Erica Banas // Rock Music Reporter
October 10th, 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.
In 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.
Wilson 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 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.
After 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.
In 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.
In 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.
