Queen sell music catalogue to Sony Music for £1 billion
Queen have reportedly agreed to sell their music catalogue to Sony Music for a record $1.27 billion (£1 billion).
According to Variety, the sale will exclude live performances, but other business ventures associated with the band, including merchandising, are included in the deal.
READ MORE: “Freddie, when we were mixing it, had his hand on the guitar fader”: Brian May on the Queen frontman’s vision for We Are The Champions
According to Variety, the acquisition of Queen’s catalogue has been in the works for a while, with another unnamed bidder in the running, but stopping short at $900 million. Such a sale was never going to be straightforward, though; the band’s recorded music rights for the US and Canada were acquired by Disney in the 2000s, and their current distribution deal, served by Universal Music Group, is expected to continue until 2026.
Sony has previously paid out large figures to purchase the back catalogues of other notable rock figures. In 2021, the corporation purchased Bruce Springsteen’s catalogue for an estimated $500 million (£393 million).
Similarly, Sony acquired the entirety of Bob Dylan’s back catalogue in a lucrative deal worth reportedly worth millions. The company also acquired a 50 per cent stake in Michael Jackson‘s catalogue for an estimated $600 million (£471 million).
In other Queen news, Brian May has revealed the amp-in-a-box that’ll give you his signature sound.
You might be familiar with the guitarist’s Red Special-Vox AC30 combo, but the icon has revealed there’s an affordable way to recreate their sound — so how do you manage it for under $200? Well, according to May, the Catalinbread Galileo has been doing “a very good job” of capturing his sonic signature.
“I’ve tried modellers, and there are some very good ones now,” the musician says. “There’s a great simulator; it’s a pedal that really does a very good job of simulating my sound.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
