David Bowie estate sells icon’s songwriting catalog for more than $250 million

NEW YORK — Pioneering rocker David Bowie’s entire songwriting catalog sold Monday for an estimated $250 million, Warner Chappell Music Inc. confirmed.

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Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources confirmed to both Variety and The New York Times that the deal was upward of a quarter-billion dollars and concluded months of negotiations.

The catalog, which spans six decades, includes such songs as “Heroes,” “Changes,” “Space Oddity,” “Fame,” “Ziggy Stardust,” and his 1981 collaboration with Queen, “Under Pressure,” as well as the posthumous studio album release, “Toy,” slated to drop Friday, Variety reported.

“These are not only extraordinary songs, but milestones that have changed the course of modern music forever,” Warner Chappell CEO Guy Moot said in a prepared statement.

Warner just bought David Bowie’s song catalogue for US$250 million https://t.co/AY9tn4HH38
— Alan Cross (@alancross) January 3, 2022

According to the Times, the blockbuster agreement spans Bowie’s entire songwriting career, from his 1967 debut album, “David Bowie,” to 2016′s “Blackstar,” released just before his January 2016 death from liver cancer at the age of 69. The deal also encompasses soundtrack compositions; material for the British superstar’s short-lived band, Tin Machine; and other works, the newspaper reported.

Prior to Monday’s deal, Warner Chappell, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group, counted more than 1.4 million compositions from some 65,000 artists in more than 40 countries among its holdings.

The freshly brokered deal with Bowie’s estate represents the latest in a series of blockbuster music rights transactions, including Bruce Springsteen’s $550 million December deal with Sony Music, as well as other high-profile deals acquiring the works of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Mötley Crüe, ZZ Top and Shakira, the Times reported.