Which artist will be the next to tell their song catalogue?

[This was my weekly column for GlobaNews.ca. – AC]

Back in 1983, Paul McCartney was working with Michael Jackson on a single called Say Say Say. Between takes, talk turned to business. Jackson had just released Thriller and was also looking to ensure that his financial future would be stable and safe. “What should I do, Paul?” he asked.

“Song publishing,” was the reply. “Invest in song catalogues. You can see a reliable source of income from the use of songs written by other people.”

Macca knew of what he spoke having lost the rights to a ton of Lennon-McCartney compositions through a financial fiasco orchestrated back in 1969. Not wanting to be stung again, he’d already amassed quite the portfolio, including everything Buddy Holly had written.

Jackson thought about this very carefully. And then on Aug. 14, 1985, Jacko outbid McCartney when a massive chunk of Beatles songs went up for sale. At US$47 million, the price was too rich for Paul. For Jackson, it was a windfall. Twenty-five years later, that catalogue was worth somewhere north of US$750 million.

Such once-obscure transactions are big business these days with companies with names like Hipgnosis, Primary Wave, and Jampol competing with Wall Street investment banks like KKR to buy up as many song catalogues as possible. It’s the new gold rush.

The chatter following the sale of Bruce Springsteen’s music catalogue to Sony for a reported US$550 million hadn’t even begun to die down when it was announced that Warner-Chappell had snapped up all of David Bowie’s music for US$250 million, adding to the list of dozens and dozens of artists (or their estates) that have done the same. That includes not just heritage artists like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Prince, and ZZ Top, but newer artists like The Killers, Imagine Dragons, and Shakira.

Keep reading to find out who might be next to sell.