The music catalogue market is certainly heating up. Just recently, it was confirmed that Justin Bieber had sold the rights to his recorded music to Hipgnosis Songs Capital for US$200 million (AU$288 million). We already know Justin Timberlake offloaded his work for US$100 million (AU$144 million). Now it appears the Michael Jackson Estate is about to break all kinds of records with Variety reporting the late King of Pop’s music catalogue will be sold in a deal worth up to US$900 million (AU$1.3 billion).
Details aren’t crystal clear as of yet, but sources suggest Sony and an unnamed financial partner are looking to acquire only 50% of Michael Jackson’s catalogue, which includes his publishing and recorded-music revenues, as well as the MJ: The Musical Broadway show and the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic. Note that given only half of the catalogue seems to be up for sale, the total value of Michael Jackon’s entire recorded-music legacy is worth closer to US$1.8 billion (AU$2.6 billion).
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If the sale does go through, this will easily be the biggest deal of its kind to date and, unless someone like Beyonce sells her music rights, is unlikely to be surpassed. The closest to date has been the sale of Bruce Springsteen’s publishing and recorded-music catalogue, which reportedly sold for around US$600 million (AU$866 million).
To date, these have been some of the most expensive acquisitions in the music catalogue market:
- Bruce Springsteen – US$600 million (publishing and recorded music rights)
- Justin Bieber – US$200 million (publishing and recorded music rights)
- Bob Dylan – US$400 million (publishing rights)
