Sony Music is reportedly in talks to buy Queen’s music catalogue for nearly $1bn (£800m).
The rock band, fronted by Freddie Mercury until his death in 1991, were one of the most commercially successful groups in history.
Sony is working with another investor on the transaction, according to Bloomberg.
If the deal went ahead, it would include the rights to merchandising and other business opportunities.
Talks are reported to have been ongoing since last year, and may not result in a deal.
Image: Queen bandmembers (L-R): Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Brian May and Freddie Mercury. Pic: PA
Despite not releasing a new song for 27 years, the band still make tens of millions every year, shared between the three remaining members – Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, and Mercury‘s estate.
Company filings for Queen Productions Ltd recorded revenues of $52m (£41m) in the year up to September 2022.
Should it achieve the estimated $1bn, it would be the biggest deal of its kind, doubling the $500m (£400m) paid by Sony for Bruce Springsteen’s catalogue in 2021.
Earlier this year Sony also acquired a 50% interest in Michael Jackson’s music catalogue for around $600m (£471m).
Image: Freddie Mercury on stage during Queen’s Live Aid set. Pic: PA
Selling the rights to back catalogues has become big business in recent years, with stars including Beyonce, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Shakira and Barry Manilow all selling off their music rights.
The evergreen nature of hit songs means that investors have been ready to offer high sums for the rights, tempting artists to relinquish their songwriting royalties in exchange for a big one-off payday.
Older artists can find it a particularly attractive prospect, with the added tax incentive of paying a one-off capital gains tax in place of annual income tax on royalties.
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Earlier this year, music investment company Hipgnosis – which owns 138 catalogues with more than 40,000 songs by artists including Blondie and Red Hot Chili Peppers – agreed to a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) takeover by private equity firm Blackstone, following a revolt by shareholders over its leadership.
Queen are famous for hits including Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga, We Will Rock You, Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites The Dust.
The band notched up six number one singles and 10 number one albums in the UK across five decades.
In 2018 a biopic about the band, Bohemian Rhapsody, won three Oscars – including best actor for its star Rami Malek, who played Mercury.
A woman who saw a man falling from an upper tier at Wembley Stadium says a similar incident at an Oasis concert over the weekend in which a fan died makes her wonder whether lessons have been learned.
Stephanie Good, 39, said a man fell during a Euro 2020 match between England and Croatia at Wembley in June 2021.
He landed “right next to where we were” on the “stairwell between rows of seats”, she said.
Named as Jon, he reportedly survived but suffered two broken ankles, a fractured femur and fractured pelvis just before kick-off.
Ms Good said she tried to give feedback but was unable to and felt the “emergency response was really lacking”.
The man reportedly fell from the stadium’s upper tier.
In his 40s, he was found with “injuries consistent with a fall” and pronounced dead at the scene, the Met Police said.
Ms Good, an NHS manager from east London, said what happened at the Oasis gig was “so similar” to what she witnessed that it made her wonder “were lessons learned”?
Image: Liam and Noel Gallagher on stage for the first Wembley night of the Oasis reunion tour. Pic: Lewis Evans
During that incident, among stadium staff “nobody seemed to know what to do”, she told the Press Association.
She thinks the man may have been trying to attach a flag to the front of a stand and “somehow managed to fall straight over”.
She said: “They (staff) didn’t seem well-trained in terms of how to respond to a really big emergency.
“Their stewards were kind of paralysed a little bit by fear, or they just weren’t well trained and didn’t know how to call for paramedics.
“It was us who were sort of shouting at them that they needed to get some paramedics.
“The first person on the scene wasn’t a stadium paramedic or St John Ambulance. It was an off-duty firefighter who had seen the guy fall and ran down to just try and offer some help.”
Regarding the follow-up, Ms Good said staff moved spectators to other seats but did not ask for witness statements.
She added: “They didn’t seek any input from people who’d seen the incident or the aftermath of it. They didn’t seem interested in speaking to anybody about it.
“I was a bit concerned, because I felt that the emergency response was really lacking.”
She then tried to get in touch to give feedback, but was unable to do so and did not receive a response to a message on social media, she said.
A Wembley spokesperson said: “Wembley Stadium operates to a very high health and safety standard, fully meeting legal requirements for the safety of spectators and staff, and is certified to and compliant with the ISO 45001 standard.
“We work very closely and collaboratively with all relevant event delivery stakeholders – including event owners, local authorities, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and the police – to deliver events to high standards of safety, security and service for everyone attending or working in the venue.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been denied bail ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges.
Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip-hop mogul had failed to show sufficient evidence he is not a flight risk and also cited admissions of previous violence made during his trial.
Combs, 55, has been in prison since his arrest in September last year.
During a two-month trial, jurors heard allegations that he had coerced former girlfriends, including singer and model Cassie Ventura, into having drug-fuelled sex marathons with male sex workers, while he watched and filmed them.
Image: Diddy fell to his knees after the verdict was delivered last month. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
The rapper’s legal team hailed this a “victory” and immediately applied for bail ahead of sentencing, citing his acquittal on the top charges.
After this was denied, they submitted another application last week. Judge Subramanian has now rejected the request again.
In denying the motion for bail, the judge found Combs had failed to show sufficient evidence to counter arguments he is a flight risk, writing in a court filing: “Increasing the amount of the bond or devising additional conditions doesn’t change the calculus given the circumstances and heavy burden of proof that Combs bears.”
Image: Judge Arun Subramanian heard Diddy’s trial and will also sentence the rapper
He also found that an argument by the music star’s legal team that the squalor and danger of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), where he is being held, did not warrant release.
“The public outcry concerning these conditions has come from all corners,” the judge wrote. “But as Combs acknowledges, MDC staff has been able to keep him safe and attend to his needs, even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate.”
The judge has not yet responded to this application.
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4:43
How the Diddy trial unfolded
How long could Diddy be jailed for?
Combs is due to be sentenced on 3 October and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Discussions on sentencing guidelines which followed the jury’s verdict suggest it is unlikely he will be jailed for this long, with an estimate of around two to five years, taking into account time already served.
However, it is ultimately up to Judge Arun Subramanian to decide the rapper’s punishment.
On Friday, Donald Trump was asked during an interview about a potential pardon for Combs following speculation about the issue.
The president said it was unlikely, adding that the rapper was “very hostile” during his presidential campaign.
Combs, who co-founded Bad Boy Records and launched the career of the late Notorious BIG, was for decades a huge figure in pop culture – a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and business entrepreneur, who presided over an empire ranging from fashion to reality TV.
As well as the criminal conviction, he is also facing several civil lawsuits.