How Real Is Queen’s ‘Billion-Dollar Catalog Deal’?
variety.comJem Aswad Senior Music Editor After months of murmurs, news broke just before the long Memorial Day weekend that, according to unnamed sources, the surviving members of Queen were in the process of closing a deal for the legendary group’s catalog for a mind-boggling $1 billion.
Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, was said to be the likely buyer. Three sources tell Variety the deal is in advanced stages — although another close to the situation says it is very preliminary — and that the billion-dollar price tag is “real.” However, exactly what is included in the package is not entirely clear.
The deal “is Universal’s to lose,” two sources said — although Sony Music is said to be waiting in the wings — owing to the company’s longstanding relationship with the group, which signed with EMI in 1972 and remained with the company, which was acquired by Universal in 2011, throughout its career, However, in 1991 it signed a deal with Hollywood Records for U.S.
and Canadian recorded-music rights only, which led to a later acquisition by the company of those assets — and therein lies one of the complicating factors.
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