Peter Frampton has bought his publishing catalog to BMG, the corporate confirms to Rolling Stone, marking the most recent artist to promote their music rights in change for a significant payout.
The deal contains all of Frampton’s publishing rights (the rights tied to songs’ lyrics and musical compositions). the corporate says, together with different copyright revenues together with neighboring rights. The corporate declined to reveal how a lot it paid for Frampton’s catalog.
The deal encompasses Frampton’s lifetime of musical work from his time with The Herd within the Sixties, to Humble Pie within the late Sixties and early Seventies, to his most profitable industrial interval as a solo artist from the Nineteen Seventies onward with hits together with “Present Me The Method,” “Child, I Love Your Method,” and “Do You Really feel Like We Do.” Frampton’s 1976 dwell album Frampton Comes Alive! Is likely one of the most profitable dwell albums of all time, promoting over 8 million models and incomes a Grammy nomination for Album of the Yr.
“I’m so happy to affix the BMG household,” Frampton mentioned in an announcement. “As an artist-first firm, I belief BMG will take care of my legacy and that my songs are in good palms.”
Frampton’s take care of BMG was practically three years within the making, BMG’s US president of repertoire and advertising and marketing Thomas Scherer tells Rolling Stone. The corporate and Frampton began talking a couple of potential sale two and a half years in the past earlier than taking a break and beginning the dialog once more six months in the past. Scherer mentioned Frampton matches effectively for BMG, which does enterprise with different traditional rock artists like Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Harry Nilsson — the latter of whom just lately bought his catalog to BMG as effectively.
“Peter Frampton is iconic, and he matches completely to our roster,” Scherer says. “The completely different artists and icons he was working with, Bowie, Harry Nilsson, together with the artists we work with, it matches completely. It matches our experience, that is the music we all know we are able to market.”
Frampton’s deal comes as catalog acquisitions have slowed in comparison with the peak of the growth from 2020 to final yr. Thanks partially to low rates of interest together with corporations like Hipgnosis driving up the market by providing beforehand unprecedented money affords for songwriters’ publishing rights, the catalog-buying spree was one of the vital important music enterprise traits of the previous a number of years, with smaller corporations and the most important majors throwing big figures at artists and songwriters for his or her work.
Bruce Springsteen bought his recording and publishing catalogs to Sony Music leisure final yr for a reported $500 million. Bob Dylan bought his publishing rights to Common Music Publishing for over $300 million in 2020 earlier than promoting his recorded rights to Sony final yr as effectively. Others who’ve bought their catalogs embrace Justin Timberlake, Stevie Nicks and Paul Simon.
BMG has made a number of high-profile offers of its personal, shopping for Tina Turner’s catalog in 2021 as Rolling Stone first reported, in addition to shopping for rights from Motley Crue, John Legend and Mick Fleetwood. There are a number of different catalogs BMG purchased this yr however hadn’t introduced, getting important shares in music rights from artists together with E-40, Gucci Mane and 5 Finger Dying Punch to call a number of.
Scherer says the corporate has closed 32 acquisitions this yr and nonetheless plans on closing seven extra by the tip of the yr. Scherer acknowledges that the market has begun to decelerate within the business for acquisitions however says BMG continues to be “full steam forward” on the offers and plans on saying extra offers within the coming months.