David Bowie’s Estate Sells His Entire Publishing Catalog

[Teletubby 150,078]

David Bowie’s estate has sold the singer’s entire publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music. As part of the deal, WCM has acquired the global music publishing rights to hundreds of songs across Bowie’s six-decade career.

The agreement includes songs from the 26 studio albums released during Bowie’s lifetime in addition to the posthumous studio album Toy, which will be released Friday.

Warner Chappell declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal, but sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the agreement is worth around $250 million.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/david-bowie-publishing-catalog-sold-warner-chappell-music-1235069061/

[Celloo Deng 55,085]

9 minutes ago, Teletubby said:

in addition to the posthumous studio album Toy, which will be released Friday.

I never knew an album of new material was coming so soon 

[Anderson123 38,482]

Does this mean Babylon Early Version is coming without Bowie's son's permission now ? 

[Ceres 3,248]

Just now, Cello said:

I never knew an album of new material was coming so soon 

It was a previous project that never happened in 2000/2001, and some of the tracks ended up as B-Sides to future albums. So it's more of the just remixing existing demos, but still really cool.

Imagine if Gaga released a revamped version of some demos for an album.
 

[Celloo Deng 55,085]

Just now, Ceres said:

It was a previous project that never happened in 2000/2001, and some of the tracks ended up as B-Sides to future albums. So it's more of the just remixing existing demos, but still really cool.

Imagine if Gaga released a revamped version of some demos for an album.
 

Thanks, I didn't know this!

It would be so cool for Gaga to do that. Maybe one day!

[Anderson123 38,482]

6 minutes ago, Cello said:

I never knew an album of new material was coming so soon 

Bowie is one of those artists that has planned a lot of he things he did with secrets and stuff, he knew Blackstar was going to be his last album while he was alive and still did a concept about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made plans to release several albums after his passing. That’s decades of writing and recording songs. 

[Celloo Deng 55,085]

4 minutes ago, Anderson123 said:

Bowie is one of those artists that has planned a lot of he things he did with secrets and stuff, he knew Blackstar was going to be his last album while he was alive and still did a concept about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made plans to release several albums after his passing. That’s decades of writing and recording songs. 

He really is a genius. 

[MOT 3,081]

$250m ? A bargain.

I think Springsteen got $500m for his. Two absolute giants, but one double the other ? No.

[PussOfYonce 3,657]

Blackstar was supposed to be the last 

im ****ing done with all these posthumous albums and songs 

[PussOfYonce 3,657]

1 hour ago, Anderson123 said:

Bowie is one of those artists that has planned a lot of he things he did with secrets and stuff, he knew Blackstar was going to be his last album while he was alive and still did a concept about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made plans to release several albums after his passing. That’s decades of writing and recording songs. 

that's true but honestly i wouldn't be surprised if this was a cash grab too, a really good one though because i will stream and possibly buy the vinyl 

[Anderson123 38,482]

17 minutes ago, PussOfYonce said:

that's true but honestly i wouldn't be surprised if this was a cash grab too, a really good one though because i will stream and possibly buy the vinyl 

That's true but who am I kidding, if that happened to my favorite artists I'd be ok with buying all of those, even unfinished demos that never made the cut. I'm sure MJ fans are curious about the projects they've released after his death, which was so sudden and unplanned. Now imagine Bowie making 3 to 5 albums approving all of those songs. 

[jimmytimestep 2,708]

1 hour ago, MOT said:

$250m ? A bargain.

I think Springsteen got $500m for his. Two absolute giants, but one double the other ? No.

I think Springsteen's is generally more consumed in a commercial sense, though - no diss to either artist, but I think Springsteen is more "top 40" overall than Bowie, thus Springsteen's stuff would have more value in being leased for commercial campaigns, etc, moving forward, hence a higher level of value.

[MOT 3,081]

3 hours ago, MOT said:

$250m ? A bargain.

I think Springsteen got $500m for his. Two absolute giants, but one double the other ? No.

 

1 hour ago, jimmytimestep said:

I think Springsteen's is generally more consumed in a commercial sense, though - no diss to either artist, but I think Springsteen is more "top 40" overall than Bowie, thus Springsteen's stuff would have more value in being leased for commercial campaigns, etc, moving forward, hence a higher level of value.

Yes, no doubt that's the truth of it. If the numbers quoted are accurate, there has to be some commercial reason for the difference.

[jimmytimestep 2,708]

42 minutes ago, MOT said:

 

Yes, no doubt that's the truth of it. If the numbers quoted are accurate, there has to be some commercial reason for the difference.

It's also, I'm sure, easier to negotiate with an estate than it is face-to-face with the artist themselves. It's a trickier negotiation with Springsteen as he's still alive, and any offer/counter that could offend him could take the whole deal off the table. Which is probably why he did it now.

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

3 hours ago, PussOfYonce said:

Blackstar was supposed to be the last 

im ****ing done with all these posthumous albums and songs 

Not really supposed to be the last, Bowie i think had a lot of material he wanted to put out but he wanted to have blackstar be his last while alive as it was his thoughts on his final days tbh. I think he had a lot of stuff planned for after he passed