The industry magazine Billboard announced that the world-famous band Red Hot Chili Peppers is about to sell its publishing rights to the London-based music investment firm Hipgnosis. The band is selling a song catalog of major hits such as Under The Bridge, Californication and Give It Away for more than $140 million.
Hipgnosis, the investment firm, has not commented publicly. The company has spent more than 1 billion pounds buying licensing rights to evergreen hits over the past three years. In January, the company acquired the rights to 50% of the royalties of Neil Young’s vast catalog of 1,180 compositions in a deal reportedly worth about $150 million. Since the beginning of the year, the company has also signed deals with Shakira, former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and super-producer Jimmy Iovine.
Selling licensing rights is a big trend in the music scene right now. Musicians like Stevie Nicks, the Fleetwood Mac singer sold a majority stake in their publishing catalog for $100 million to music publisher Primary Wave. Others who have sold this year include Blondie, The Killers, Imagine Dragons and many more.
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