The twelve-time Grammy winner Tina Turner (“The Best”, “We Don't Need Another Hero”, “What's Love Got To Do With It”) has sold an extensive package of rights to the music division of the Bertelsmann Group, BMG.

The acquisition includes Turner's share in the marketing of her music recordings as well as her texts and compositions.

Benjamin Fischer

Editor in business.

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Added to this are their ancillary rights and performance rights (“Neighboring Rights”) and rights to name, image and image, as BMG announced on Wednesday.

The shares to which it is entitled from the utilization of the various rights will therefore flow to BMG in the future.

As is usually the case with such deals, nothing was communicated about the purchase price.

Music Business Worldwide experts estimate the price at $ 50 million or more.

However, it is particularly difficult to estimate this sale because it encompasses a whole range of rights, rather than just rights to music recordings or texts and compositions.

For Bob Dylan's rights to the latter - author and publisher's share - the publishing division of the world's largest music group Universal Music is said to have paid up to $ 400 million in December.

"In reliable hands with BMG"

Warner Music continues to act as a label partner of the now 81-year-old artist from the southern state of Tennessee. Usually, the label's share of the royalties that an artist's recordings bring in is significantly higher than the artist's share. However, this can vary depending on the reputation of a musician, the career phase and, in general, the individual design of the collaboration.  

"As for every artist, the protection of my life's work, my musical heritage, is something personal," Turner was quoted in the communication.

"I am confident that my work is in professional and reliable hands with BMG and Warner Music." According to BMG, their ten studio and two live albums, two soundtracks and five compilations combined have sold more than 100 million units.

Turner's music has "inspired hundreds of millions of people around the world and continues to reach new audiences," said BMG boss Hartwig Masuch.

"We are honored to represent Tina Turner's musical and commercial interests."

For its part, at the end of March this year, BMG entered into an alliance with the financial investor KKR to jointly acquire musical styles.

Both share a common past.

From 2009 to 2013, KKR held a 51 percent majority in the recently newly founded Bertelsmann music division.

Various large catalog acquisitions took place during this period.

BMG has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Group since March 2013.

A BMG spokeswoman told the FAZ that the deal with Turner - according to BMG the company's largest to date with a single act - was not made as part of the new collaboration with KKR those with KKR are in progress, according to the BMG.

Financial investors compete for sought-after musicians

Sales by renowned artists have been increasing for some time. For example, Paul Simon's author catalog went to the publishing house of Sony Music, while Neil Young sold 50 percent of the rights to texts and compositions of his works to the Hipgnosis Fund. For its part, BMG recently acted relatively cautiously, but secured Mick Fleetwood's shares in many recordings by the band Fleetwood Mac in January

Even younger artists such as the Killers, Shakira or Imagine Dragons have seized the opportunity in the past few months and assigned rights shares in return for a substantial one-off payment.

In addition to music companies, funds and financial investors have long been vying for coveted catalogs, which is what drives prices.

Buyers expect stable income in the long term from music marketing, primarily through streaming, but also via other, primarily digital channels such as social media, series or video games.

The publishing business is the main source of income for BMG

As a rule, shares in the rights to recordings or texts and compositions are sold.

But the Iconic Artists Group of music manager Irving Azoff had reached a more far-reaching deal like BMG now with Tina Turner in mid-February by acquiring shares in the Beach Boys' trademark rights.

BMG is the fourth largest music company in the world after Universal, Sony and Warner Music.

While the three so-called majors generate the significantly larger part of their income with the label business, which is higher in sales and margins, i.e. with the marketing of music recordings, the publishing division is the main source of income at BMG.

In 2020, this business area accounted for more than half of the total turnover of 602 million euros.