Sony buys Queen catalog for $1.27B

[Alkali Ike]

Apparently Disney already owns some part of the Queen legacy, but Sony is going in big now.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The Queen music catalog, along with a number of other rights, is in the process of being acquired by Sony Music for 1 billion pounds (around $1.27 billion), two sources confirmed to Variety.

The news was first reported by Hits; according to their report, the only revenue not covered in the deal is for live performances, which founding members Brian May and Roger Taylor, who still actively tour with singer Adam Lambert, will retain.

Queen’s music catalog is among the most valuable of the rock era — with classics like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Radio Ga Ga,” “39,” “Somebody to Love” and “You’re My Best Friend” as well as the perennial stadium-shakers “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” the songs are globally popular and enormously lucrative.

The success of the 2018 biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” shows the potential for the group’s name and likeness rights, and the likelihood of a jukebox musical that could open in London or on Broadway and then tour indefinitely.

 

[squarepeg]

Watch for the upcoming tour with Freddie Mercury hologram.

 

[Oddly]

My only comment on that is that calling '39' a classic seems pretty strange to me. In fact I had to go to youtube to hear it, I found it a very weak song in comparison to most of the catalogue and I'm pretty sure I've never heard it before.
Maybe it was big in the States...

 

[80jazz]

My only comment on that is that calling '39' a classic seems pretty strange to me. In fact I had to go to youtube to hear it, I found it a very weak song in comparison to most of the catalogue and I'm pretty sure I've never heard it before.
Maybe it was big in the States...

I am in the U.S and have never heard of that tune.

 

[andruca]

It's in the same album as "Love of my life" AND "Bohemian Rhapsody", comes exactly after "You're my best friend". There's no way you can miss that track, IF YOU EVER LISTENED TO "A NIGHT AT THE OPERA", one of the most iconic rock albums ever. If you haven't, you're DAMM FAR FROM BEING A BARE LISTENER OF QUEEN, MUCH LESS A FAN, you ignoring "39" is as irrelevant as me ignoring Taylor Swift's iconic songs (if there is sucj a thing, don't know what those are, can't name a single TS tune).

 

[gln1955]

It's in the same album as "Love of my life" AND "Bohemian Rhapsody", comes exactly after "You're my best friend". There's no way you can miss that track, IF YOU EVER LISTENED TO "A NIGHT AT THE OPERA", one of the most iconic rock albums ever. If you haven't, you're DAMM FAR FROM BEING A BARE LISTENER OF QUEEN, MUCH LESS A FAN, you ignoring "39" is as irrelevant as me ignoring Taylor Swift's iconic songs (if there is sucj a thing, don't know what those are, can't name a single TS tune).

Just because it's on an album with some great songs doesn't make it a "classic".

 

[Michedelic]

I remember hearing “39” a bit on radio back in the day, it got airplay. It stuck out as it sounded like a sea shanty to me. If you read the YT comments, it has its fans.

 

[5StringBlues]

I must say for those who never heard queen a night at the opera all the way through, it is a situation where you do wanna hear the whole record. I would go as far as to call it the sergeant pepper of the 70s, given the wide variety of styles that are on it.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Brilliant retirement plan. Who wants to purchase my intellectual property?
It's worth a buck 380.

 

[5StringBlues]

Also, take a break between seaside rendezvous and the prophet song. Like you would if you had to flip a record. Side 1, side 2.

I must say for those who never heard queen a night at the opera all the way through, it is a situation where you do wanna hear the whole record. I would go as far as to call it the sergeant pepper of the 70s, given the wide variety of styles that are on it.

 

[andruca]

I must say for those who never heard queen a night at the opera all the way through, it is a situation where you do wanna hear the whole record. I would go as far as to call it the sergeant pepper of the 70s, given the wide variety of styles that are on it.

Exacly my point, if you haven't listened to ANATO you're just a casual listener of Queen at best, judging on 39 or whatever else, is a joke. It's like ignoring "Lovely Rita" from Sgt. Pepper. Still it's totally OK to not know 39, and like with anything you ignore, you should just avoid emmiting judgements about it.

 

[5StringBlues]

I'm not a huge queen fan, don't think I have ever heard any other album of theirs all the way through. But there is a lot to HEAR on that record.

Exacly my point, if you haven't listened to ANATO you're just a casual listener of Queen, judging on 39 or whatever else, is a joke. It's like ignoring "Lovely Rita" from Sgt. Pepper. Still it's totally OK to not know 39, and like with anything you ignore, you should just avoid emmiting judgements about it.

 

[andruca]

I'm not a huge queen fan, don't think I have ever heard any other album of theirs all the way through. But there is a lot to HEAR on that record.

The era that goes from Sheer heart attack to Jazz is Queen's artistic prime for me.

 

[BazzaBass]

The ONLY number that matters is 1.27 Billion

 

[Oddly]

@andruca I appear to have upset you, for which I apologise. That said, I'll stand by my opinion of 39. In an attempt to see your point of view, I've now listened to it several times, with the rest of the album for context, and I'm sorry but I still think it very weak. You're clearly a bigger Queen fan than I , but I would hope in future you'd chill a bit when someone expresses their opinion of a song you clearly love.