You've helped bring Queen fame, fortune and everything that comes with it over the past half century, and now the champions are gearing up for a victory lap.
According to Variety, Sony Music will pay £1 billion (about $1.27 billion) for the Queen song catalogue and other rights. The only rights Sony will not retain are the live performance rights, as guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor still tour under the name Queen, the magazine reported.
The band's 2018 Oscar-winning biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” boosted the value of songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” “Champions” and “Somebody to Love.” Hits Daily Double, which first reported news of the acquisition, speculated that the deal could close within the next few weeks.
According to Hits, Disney licensed the catalog in 1990 for $10 million. Disney would acquire and retain the rights to the band's North American recorded music sometime in the 2000s for an unknown price, but any remaining royalties still owned by the musicians will go to Sony going forward. Distribution rights will eventually move from Universal to Sony in the next few years, depending on which countries the music is sold in. However, Universal will continue to distribute the music in North America, as Disney will retain the rights.
A Disney representative did not respond to Rolling Stone's request for comment.
According to Hits, in addition to the music rights, Sony will also own the rights to Queen's name and likeness, which means Sony could earn extra revenue by using Queen's songs in jukebox musicals. It could also lead to more use of Queen's songs in advertising.
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Forbes magazine reports that if the deal goes through, it would be the largest sale of a musician's catalog ever. Bruce Springsteen sold his publishing catalog to Sony for $500 million in 2021. Bob Dylan sold the rights to his music catalog to Sony the following year for more than $300 million. In February, news broke that Sony was willing to pay $600 million for a stake in Michael Jackson's catalog. However, these figures do not include unreported sales.
Variety magazine reports that another bidder withdrew from bidding for Queen's catalogue after bidding topped $900 million.