Billion Dollar Queen

by Hugh McIntyre

Queen’s catalog of hits and bestselling albums has been purchased for an eye-popping sum—one that appears to be historic. According to HitsDailyDouble, the rights to the band’s music have been acquired for well north of $1 billion.

Sony Music is the company that agreed to pay that figure, which also includes other rights connected to the rockers. According to Variety, the deal doesn’t feature monies connected to live performances, as the group is still performing. For years now, Queen has been touring, with Adam Lambert filling in for Freddie Mercury.

This acquisition appears to be the largest purchase for a single artist’s catalog in history. There has never been a $1 billion-plus sale—at least not one that the public is aware of. Now, that threshold has been crossed, and it may have expensive repercussions in the future of the music industry.

The figure that’s being reported isn’t an even $1 billion, though. It’s actually £1 billion, which means in USD, the deal was much more expensive. The rights cost more than $1.2 billion after the exchange rate is taken into account.

Several companies have been angling to get their hands on Queen’s catalog for some time now. There was apparently something of a bidding war for the rights to the smashes the group created during their time together, though there aren’t many companies that could gather the funds necessary to compete for the honor.

According to Variety, there was another firm that was still part of the discussion recently. That unnamed company reportedly could not bid above $900 million, so it seems that the race wasn’t actually that close.