British singer Rod Stewart is another artist who has sold the rights to his hits for a fortune. As the “Wall Street Journal” reported on Thursday, Irving Azoff’s rights management company Iconic Artists Group acquired the rights to Stewart’s music recordings, his song catalog and some rights to the name Rod Stewart for almost 100 million dollars (93 million euros).
Stewart has had numerous hits over the past few decades such as “Maggie May”, “I Am Sailing” and “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”. Trading in music rights has developed into a huge market in recent years. Important artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young received huge sums of money for their song rights.
Most recently, almost a week ago, reports about the acquisition of around half of Michael Jackson’s recordings and song rights by the entertainment group Sony caused a stir. The New York Times reported, citing informed sources, that the value of Jackson’s entire work was $1.2 billion or more. The website “Billboard” concluded that Sony paid at least $600 for the portion of the “King of Pop’s” works.
Investors value song rights as a worthwhile long-term investment in the age of music streaming. The rights holders receive royalties when the songs are played on the radio or on streaming platforms, from record sales and when the music is used in advertising and films.
