John Legend joined the growing list of superstars cashing in on the boom market for music rights, selling a catalog dating back to his first album to an alliance of KKR & Co. and BMG.
Amid rising demand from private equity firms such as KKR, artists such as Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young have struck blockbuster deals for their work, capped last month by Bruce Springsteen’s sale of his entire recorded music and songwriting catalogs for a reported $500 million. KKR and BMG said last year they’d partner to acquire catalogs, and in December announced a deal for the music interests of rock trio ZZ Top.
KKR has spent heavily since announcing its alliance with BMG, a unit of Germany’s Bertelsmann SE, in March to acquire music catalogs. In a separate deal, KKR paired up with Dundee Partners to purchase a portfolio of song rights from Kobalt Capital Ltd. in October for about $1.1 billion.
The agreement with Legend covers “all present and future accounts and payment intangibles” for the right to collect royalties and other income from music he composed or wrote from Dec. 1, 2004, to Jan. 1, 2021, as well as the copyrights to the works, according to a Uniform Commercial Code financing statement filed in November in New York state, where John Legend Music Inc. is based.
Read more/Source: BNN BLoomberg
