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Sting sells solo catalog and hits from The Police to Universal Music Publishing Group for $300 million

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Sting Sells Catalog to Universal Music Publishing

Universal Music Publishing Group today announced the acquisition of 17-time Grammy Award winner Sting’s career catalog of music. This historic, comprehensive worldwide agreement for the catalog encompasses the entirety of both Sting’s solo works, as well as those with The Police.

The worldwide agreement encompasses all of his solo works as well as those with The Police, including “Roxanne,” “Every Breath You Take” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”
“So many memories from my youth are tied to the great songs written by Sting—whether it was first seeing the Police perform in Philadelphia or hearing his music on the radio or playing those albums until I wore them out,” UMPG Chairman/CEO Jody Gerson said. “I could never have imagined that someday I would get to lead a company that will be the guardian of Sting’s remarkable songwriting legacy. Every one of us at UMPG looks forward to this work with a sense of honor, responsibility and enormous excitement about what we can achieve for his music in the future.” UMPG and UMG will work with Sting to further build and expand his vast audience reach, strengthen the impact and influence of his music, and continue supporting future releases. Sting has recorded for A&M, Interscope and Cherrytree Records.

Sting, managed by Martin Kierszenbaum/Cherrytree Music Company, said, “It is absolutely essential to me that my career’s body of work have a home where it is valued and respected—not only to connect with longtime fans in new ways but also to introduce my songs to new audiences, musicians and generations. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with UMG as my label partner, under the watchful guidance of Lucian, so it felt natural to unite everything in one trusted home, as I return to the studio, ready for the next chapter.”

UMG Chairman/CEO Sir Lucian Grainge returned the compliment, saying “Sting is a songwriting genius whose music permeates global culture. We are honored that by choosing UMPG for his music publishing, Sting’s entire body of work as a songwriter and recording artist—from the Police to his solo work—will all be within the UMG family. It’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly as well as a great validation of what we have built for artists at UMG.”
 
Only Sting I fucks with
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My concern with all these labels and businessed buying up catalogs is there's going to be nothing (except maybe a courtcase) stopping them from going after any artist that makes a song that kinda sounds like a song they own, or even just has one part that of it that sounds like a song they own. at least with other artists, like Sting, they're still people so you could reason with them to some degree but a corporate entity? fat chance of reasoning with them.
 
My concern with all these labels and businessed buying up catalogs is there's going to be nothing (except maybe a courtcase) stopping them from going after any artist that makes a song that kinda sounds like a song they own, or even just has one part that of it that sounds like a song they own. at least with other artists, like Sting, they're still people so you could reason with them to some degree but a corporate entity? fat chance of reasoning with them.

But on the flip side there are a lot of artists that wouldn't let people sample their music for whatever reason and with a 3rd party owner all they care about is if you can pay.
 
But on the flip side there are a lot of artists that wouldn't let people sample their music for whatever reason and with a 3rd party owner all they care about is if you can pay.
that's true as well. at the end of the day the label obviously believe they're going to make that $300M back, now I'd be interested to know if they expect that to be over multiple decades or faster than that. I'm also curious what they'll do in 75+ years when the artists have died and hit a point where their music can enter the public domain. might not live to see that though lol
 
Sometimes, an artist will sell their catalog to make a bigger move that will require a lot of capital.
 
that's true as well. at the end of the day the label obviously believe they're going to make that $300M back, now I'd be interested to know if they expect that to be over multiple decades or faster than that. I'm also curious what they'll do in 75+ years when the artists have died and hit a point where their music can enter the public domain. might not live to see that though lol

Oh they're going to change those public domain laws. That's already in the works.
 
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