Tame Impala's Kevin Parker sells entire song catalog, including work with Dua Lipa

[Teletubby 137,266]

Sony Music Publishing today announced it has acquired the catalog of Tame Impala singer/ songwriter/ producer Kevin Parker, who has also worked extensively with Dua Lipa, Rihanna, SZA, Kendrick Lamar Gorillaz and more. The deal, which expands the company’s 15-year partnership with Parker, encompasses his entire catalog of songs as well as future works. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In addition to his four studio albums and multiple singles with Tame Impala, Parker’s songwriting catalog includes work with Rihanna, Travis Scott, Dua Lipa, Mick Jagger, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Gorillaz, Mark Ronson, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, Kid Cudi, Flaming Lips, A$AP Rocky, Lil Yachty, Don Toliver, Daft Punk, Miguel, and even long-running Australian childrens’ act the Wiggles.

Parker said of the deal, “The idea of passing on ownership of my songs is one that I don’t think about very lightly, at all. They are the fruit of my blood, sweat and creativity over all the years I’ve been a recording artist and songwriter so far. I have a lot of love and trust for the Sony publishing family and have only had great experiences with Damian Trotter and the rest of the gang worldwide. I don’t think my songs could be in any safer hands than Sony’s, and I’m excited for the future and happy I can keep working with them on whatever the future brings…”
 

 

[jimmytimestep 2,473]

Get money!

[Sneaky Oliver 21,353]

Why so many artists sell their entire catalog like that? I can’t really think of an advantage besides getting money right away but owning your catalog makes you earn money for the rest of your life….??? 

[Catnikko 13,928]

1 hour ago, Sneaky Oliver said:

Why so many artists sell their entire catalog like that? I can’t really think of an advantage besides getting money right away but owning your catalog makes you earn money for the rest of your life….??? 

the money they sell it for is probably enough that you know you're set for life and you don't have to worry about performance or anything anymore, you can just retire basically

[phantasmas 9,970]

including future works? what if future artists dont want to collab because they dont want Sony to have ownership? 

[FATCAT 59,100]

5 minutes ago, phantasmas said:

including future works? what if future artists dont want to collab because they dont want Sony to have ownership? 

I assume they would just own his portion of the rights, not the entirety.

[PunkTheFunk 123,735]

Sources are reporting that Perfect Illusion was sold for $2.50 

[lg5 1,470]

Good for him! Strike when you can get the most for your masters. 

[clownery 4,037]

33 minutes ago, PunkTheFunk said:

Sources are reporting that Perfect Illusion was sold for $2.50 

kinda expensive 

[LaLa 19,184]

2 hours ago, Sneaky Oliver said:

Why so many artists sell their entire catalog like that? I can’t really think of an advantage besides getting money right away but owning your catalog makes you earn money for the rest of your life….??? 

It's a gamble basically. If you think you can take the big lump sum and invest it so as to earn more from that than you're earning each year from your music it might be worth it. Especially as pure sales continue to drop and streaming profits being low for artists, plus who knows what the next platform for music will be, could earn you even less... For some artists I'm sure it makes a lot of sense 

[FATCAT 59,100]

2 hours ago, LaLa said:

It's a gamble basically. If you think you can take the big lump sum and invest it so as to earn more from that than you're earning each year from your music it might be worth it. Especially as pure sales continue to drop and streaming profits being low for artists, plus who knows what the next platform for music will be, could earn you even less... For some artists I'm sure it makes a lot of sense 

I think we’ll see more of these as AI starts to take off. In the future, labels will train an AI to churn out whatever they think will sell, and originality & catalogs will be less valued in the marketplace.