Rod Stewart just sold his entire song catalogue, including recorded music and some name and likeness rights, to Iconic Artists.
According to Variety, Stewart pocketed nearly $100 million from the deal, signing away the marketing rights and ownership of singles such as ‘Maggie May’,’Baby Jane’, and ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’. Stewart released a statement following the sale, revealing why he chose 2024 to be the year he sold all his music, and why he picked Iconic Artists as the buyer.
“This year marks my 60th year in the music industry. The time is right, and I feel fortunate to have found partners in [chairman and CEO] Irving Azoff and his team at Iconic that I can entrust with my life’s work and future musical legacy.”
In 2021, Bruce Springsteen sold his entire catalogue for a massive half a billion.
Variety mentioned that Iconic Artists recently raised $1 billion in “new capital for future catalogue investments,” giving them greater financial leverage in consideration of additional acquisitions. This news arrived around the same time that Sony purchased a “major stake” in Michael Jackson’s catalogue, and Queen’s catalogue in its entirety.
Despite their recent success, Iconic Artists was not the first place that Stewart turned to make a deal. The 79-year-old standout initially sold his catalogue to Hipgnosis Songs as part of a deal that never closed.
“This catalogue represents my life’s work. And it became abundantly clear after much time and due diligence that this was not the right company to manage my song catalogue, career or legacy.”
After a few years, Stewart decided to back out of the agreement and sell to Iconic Artists, joining big name acquisitions like The Beach Boys Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Cher, and more.
