
ZZ Leading sells audio catalog for $50M to BMG, investment company
ZZ Leading is advertising its new music catalog to expense agency KKR and document business BMG for $50 million, in accordance to a report.
The famous Texas trio, recognized for hits like “Legs,” “Cheap Sunglasses” and “Gimme All Your Lovin,’” marketed their new music pursuits, which incorporate the publishing catalog as very well as profits from recorded songs royalties and overall performance royalties, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The sale follows a slew of superior-profile bargains in which famous rock stars are cashing out. Previously this month, Bruce Springsteen reportedly offered his legendary music and publishing catalog to Sony Music for a whopping $500 million.
Very last yr, Bob Dylan sold his massive 600-music catalog to Common Audio Publishing Team for a described $300 million to $400 million in December 2020. Around the exact same time, Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks bought 80 percent of her rights to her very own songwriting catalog, including hits like “Landslide” and “Edge of Seventeen,” to audio publisher Major Wave for a described $100 million.
And in accordance to stories last month, Common Music Team has been in advance talks with Sting to purchase his audio for $250 million, while Warner New music Group is increasing $535 million to purchase David Bowie’s songs.
The ZZ Major offer consists of 15 albums introduced more than a 50-12 months span, such as the commercial breakthrough “Tres Hombres” in 1973, “Degüello,” “El Loco,” “Eliminator,” “Afterburner,” “Recycler” and “Antenna.”
The trio of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard shaped ZZ Top rated in the late ’60s. Known for their unique long purple beards, the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Hill died in July at age 72 during the band’s North American tour, which is slated to operate by way of spring 2022.
The specials are section of a lengthy string of founded artists offering their songbooks to deep-pocketed traders or audio labels. They are also fueled by streaming, which features the likelihood of a lot more rewarding royalties as clients flock to expert services like Spotify and Apple Audio.
And specials have ramped up during the coronavirus pandemic due in portion to reduced interest costs that make it much easier for companies to borrow dollars to invest in substantial assets.

According to the Journal, BMG Legal rights Management — both equally a file label and publisher, and a subsidiary of Germany’s Bertelsmann SE — and KKR in March joined forces to expend at minimum $1 billion on audio copyrights. Previous January, KKR inked a $200 million offer for a the vast majority stake in Ryan Tedder’s catalog of hits, such as tracks from Beyoncé, Adele, Stevie Question and Tedder’s band, OneRepublic.
In Oct, KKR invested $1.1 billion on financial commitment advisory business Kobalt Capital’s KMR Audio Royalties II portfolio, which incorporates extra than 62,000 copyrights across tunes genres, the Journal reported.