Without a doubt, Queen is one of the greatest bands in rock and roll history. From all their amazing performances with the late Freddie Mercury to the plethora of incredible shows they continue to sell out to this day, Queen stands as a massive musical force.
Queen’s music has a tremendous presence in pop culture – look no further than how often “We Will Rock You” is played at sporting events. It is very much because of that presence that the band’s music is quite valuable to anyone who owns the rights to it.
And apparently, as reported by Music Business Worldwide, there are talks taking place regarding the rights to the band’s catalog being sold, and per MBW’s sources, that catalog might sell for an insane amount of money.
At the time of this writing, talks pertaining to this sale are in the initial stages; this sale would include the music publishing and recorded music rights associated with Queen.
Per MBW, they are told that several companies, as well as folks from the realm of private equity, are interested in purchasing the band’s catalog.
So, how much might these companies have to fork up if they want the publishing and recorded music rights associated with Queen’s music?
Well… they may have to put out a little more than a billion dollars. Music Business Worldwide shares that, per their sources, Queen’s music catalog may sell for around $1.1 billion, if not more.
MBW also notes that a sale of this magnitude would become “the biggest single-artist music catalog sale in history.”
As a reference, MBW cites Sony Music Group’s purchase of Bruce Springsteen’s catalog, which was purchased for over $500 million.
Paying over a billion dollars to obtain the rights to a band’s music is beyond surreal to imagine; but the idea is that, given how successful Queen is, the buyer would eventually turn a profit from owning the band’s catalog.
