Warner Chappell Music has purchased the rights to David Bowie’s back catalog in an agreement worth hundreds of million of dollars.
The agreement contains songs from 26 studio albums, including two with Tin Machine.
It covers six decades, and contains beloved songs like Heroes and Changes, Space Oddity and Fame.
Acquisition: Warner Chappell Music, (WCM), has bought the rights for David Bowie’s back catalog publishing rights in a deal worth hundreds and millions of dollars
Variety reports that WCM was the Warner Music Group’s publishing arm and Bowie owned the rights to the contract. The deal is worth over 250 million dollars.
The announcement comes just a year after both parties had announced a worldwide partnership that would bring together the vast record collection of the artist from 1968 through 2016 under one umbrella.
Universal Music Group purchased Bob Dylan’s complete back catalog in December 2020. Other artists, such as Mick Fleetwood and Neil Young, have since sold their interests in the music.
Agreement: It covers 26 songs on the British singer’s studio albums, plus the posthumously-released album Toy (pictured in 1987), and two of his albums with Tin Machine.
Classics: This collection spans six generations and contains beloved songs like Heroes, Changes and Space Oddity. It also includes Fame, Let’s Dance, Rebel Rebel, and Fame (pictured in 1975).
Guy Moot is WCM’s co-chairman. He said, “All of us from Warner Chappell feel tremendously proud that David Bowie has selected us to care for one of the greatest, most influential, and enduring catalogs in music history.”
“These songs are more than just exceptional. They represent milestones which have forever changed the trajectory of contemporary music.”
“Bowie is a visionary with a creative genius. His songs challenged the conventions of music and changed the conversation. They have been incorporated into the cultural heritage of worldwide culture.
Fortune: According the US entertainment magazine Variety, WCM was worth over 250 million dollars. (Photo taken in 1983).
He was a pioneer in the field of music and has inspired millions.
“We look forward to tending to his unsurpassed body of songs, with passion and care, as we work to continue the legacy of this extraordinary human being.”
Allen Grubman (Entertainment lawyer) said that the Bowie estate is truly happy to have David Bowie’s music in the hands of Warner Chappell Music Publishing.
Extraordinary: Guy Moot declared that “These songs are not just exceptional, they’re milestones which have forever changed the music industry.”
We know they’ll cherish and treat it with great dignity.
Bowie, one the greatest and most revered artists of the 20th Century, was diagnosed with liver cancer two days after his birthday on January 10, 2016.
Celebrates have begun for his 75th anniversary.
Influential: Bowie, one the most important and beloved musicians of the 20th Century, succumbed to liver cancer just two days following his 69th Birthday (pictured in 1992).