Red Hot Chili Peppers ink $300M deal with Warner Music to sell catalog

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-industry-news/wmg-acquired-red-hot-chili-peppers-catalog-for-350-million-1236589567/

by randycupertino • 2 months ago

90 116 2 months ago

hollywoodreporter.com

https://guitar.com/news/industry-news/red-hot-chili-peppers-...

Forgeties792• 2 months ago

That honestly sounds like a good deal for the buyer at first blush but can’t say I’m an expert here

mxfh2• 2 months ago

With the trend of things, this seems like good timing for the RHCP estates with a not so unlikely collapse of licensing revenue happening in the near future.

NoboruWataya• 2 months ago

I wonder if you tend to see more artists selling their back catalogues at times like this when some technological disruption is casting doubt on their ability to continue to generate income from them. David Bowie was famously one of the first artists to securitise music royalties, in 1997, basically at the dawn of the digital copying era.

freejazz3• 2 months ago

Why would licensing revenue for hit songs collapse?

thierrydamiba• 2 months ago

This is as close as you get to a win win in life.

afavour• 2 months ago

I'm surprised the number is this low! Queen sold their catalogue for $1.27bn and while RHCP are clearly not on their scale I thought they were pretty high up there, especially given how long they've been active.

Waterluvian• 2 months ago

All subjective and all that. But I feel like 300M vs. 1.27B is exactly where I would have personally pinned their ratio difference.

To roughly frame it: if we made another golden record, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had 4 Queen songs and 1 RHCP song.

vages• 2 months ago

In terms of artistic quality, perhaps. In terms of expected future royalties, I think Queen would be an order of magnitude more valuable than most artists.

sho_hn2• 2 months ago

Same, or worse. Having lived in Europe and Korea I can tell you numerous Queen songs have instant recognizability the world over, but I would say RHCP are a household name mostly in the US, except maybe some older people recognizing Californication as a distinctly 90s happening.

piskov• 2 months ago

Sting reportedly got $300 mil back in 2022

manquer• 2 months ago

It was also a different market in 2024. Much more fluid private credit industry, deal volume was much higher[1] and under very different interest rate regime[2], also generated music was just getting somewhat decent and the risk probably wasn't being factored in to long term value yet.

[1] The Queen deal came at end of series of high profile catalog acquisitions all 500M+ buys - Springsteen, Jackson(half), Bob Dylan.

[2] Interest rate while high was trending down and widely expected to even reach to pre-pandemic levels in few quarters.

crispyambulance• 2 months ago

Beyond a certain amount, the actual number becomes meaningless especially for people who already have dynastic wealth not even counting this. It's just what they happened to negotiate.

It's quite a retirement package.

red-iron-pine• 2 months ago

yeah also surprised.

and as mentioned elsewhere, RHCP is still young enough to crank out a few more albums and tour. Bruce Springsteen kept cranking until his 80s and sold the catalog for $500M

I assume the band is basically tapped out and ready to rest on laurels

indigodaddy• 2 months ago

Bruce is 76

TiredOfLife• 2 months ago

Queen made music. RHCP make noise.

geoka9• 2 months ago

So delicious noise though!

shwaj• 2 months ago

Relatively small amount compared to the billions we see thrown around for AI startups a couple of years old.

xnx• 2 months ago

True, but don't be fooled by imaginary "valuations" in the billions. RHCP is definitely getting paid real money.

perarneng• 2 months ago

Hard to tell what the value of music will be in 5 years

nine_k2• 2 months ago

The value of guaranteed real stuff, with known provenance, still remains in the world of mass production; a "real Louis Vuitton bag" is still worth more than a very good copy, or a very good bag from an unknown designer.

But most of the market, is, of course, lower end. Probably "good enough" machine-produced music is going to dominate casual playlists, but some bands still will have large followings, and live show still be valuable.

bagels• 2 months ago

"Luis" Vuitton is the knockoff brand, but point taken.

sevenzero• 2 months ago

Digital music? Probably non-existent. Live music played by actual musicians? Just as much.

freejazz3• 2 months ago

Not really, I don't want to listen to AI slop.

AbstractH24• 2 months ago

Hard to tell what the value of music will be in 5 years

Which be exactly why it makes sense to sell

Hard to see a world where the value goes up. Best case it stays stable, worst it decreases

mxfh2• 2 months ago

This is one of the reasons we can't have proper soundtracks in video games or non AAA TV shows anymore or re-releases of old TV-shows anymore.

I just feel bad for all the pension fonds backing this Bain Capital PE joint venture who will have an off chance of making back their investments with the current state of IP and AI trends.

sparkling• 2 months ago

In a world full of endless AI slop, wouldn't original recordings become more valuable over time?

stavros2• 2 months ago

Yes, like in a world full of electronic music, original recordings of guitar players became more valuable over time.

reactordev2• 2 months ago

Only if the talent pool was restricted or if they also hold the distribution keys. Unfortunately, anyone can buy a $300 guitar and become a master, given time and commitment. This can then be used to influence AI into cleaning up your sloppy playing and off-tempo. Possibly even creating entirely new sounds from it (midi?) and then anyone can create a signature sound and model a band or music group around that motif.

The short version is no, not anymore.

walrus013• 2 months ago

Based on the era when RHCP was the most popular, I would guess that PE people buying the RHCP catalog plan to license it to advertisers for just about everything as Gen-X people age into the 60+ demographic and retirement. You can expect to see RHCP music in adult diaper and "help I've fallen and I can't get up" commercials in the future.

hulitu2• 2 months ago

They will remaster the recordings anyway.

butlike• 2 months ago

Only if people remain exposed to it enough for them to still give a shit after 'x' years.

tptacek• 2 months ago

A valid concern generally, but if you're concerned about soundtrack quality, RHCP has done the world a favor by locking it up inside Warner.

mikestorrent• 2 months ago

Golf clap

triceratops• 2 months ago

Savage

fraywing• 2 months ago

Music and streaming is severely under attack from an effort/commercial viability perspective given tools like Suno[1]

Not exactly saying this is the reason for their sell, but I'd imagine a lot of professional musicians are feeling the desire to exit the industry.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/05/02/nx-s1-5804489/music-listeners...

Slow_Hand• 2 months ago

As a record maker, I'd say record making is under attack from Suno about as much as novelists are under attack from Chat GPT. Both still require a crafts person to steer the tools, if they're to be used at all.

Yes there will be slop, but neither Suno nor GPT are close to making coherent work with creators with taste and good judgement.

ktallett• 2 months ago

Whilst I feel all creative passions should be appropriately rewarded, I would say musicians are the best rewarded out of all the ones that can be done in your bedroom. Authors and artists earn far less but still do it. Surely at the end of the day you play music whether you get paid or not.

hmokiguess• 2 months ago

Give it away, give it away, give it away now

I can't tell, if I'm a king pin or a pauper

stephenhuey• 2 months ago

Under the Bridge is still my favorite...

Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner Sometimes I feel like my only friend Is the city I live in, The City of Angels Lonely as I am, together we cry

slumberlust• 2 months ago

Agreed by far their best. Others still slap though.

The intro to Snow is great too.

pcurve• 2 months ago

The music video is great too... the slow build up of the song towards the 3:10 minute mark, with him running towards you. Love it. So thankful I was old enough to be around to watch it on MTV.

rsync• 2 months ago

Behind the Sun.

bix62• 2 months ago

Unimpressed by material excess

laylower• 2 months ago

I came here to write this!

liveoneggs• 2 months ago

Every credit card rewards program will "give it away now" from now on

nilamo• 2 months ago

By the way,
I tried to say
CRAZY BIG BOB IS HAVING ANOTHER CRAZY SALE THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!!!
so don't wait for Dani, come on down and say "I love you" to a pre-owned Nissan!

aidos2• 2 months ago

That does seem like less than I would expect!

It always makes me a bit sad that everyone knows RHCP but less so their early stuff. Blood sugar sex magik is a funk masterpiece. Didn’t help that for years Spotify used the singles versions of the tracks so the levels were all over the place and it was basically unstreamable.

ThomW• 2 months ago

Freaky Styley is their funk masterpiece. haha

aidos2• 2 months ago

Fair. It did have George Clinton at the helm.

I loved all the early stuff. Freaky Styley, Mothers Milk, The Uplift Mofo party plan. With Rick Rubin at the controls I just think Blood Sugar Sex Magik took their sound to another level.

mlhpdx• 2 months ago

Out in L.A.

dyauspitr• 2 months ago

$300M is a lot though.

throw0101c• 2 months ago

PSA: this article is re-reporting the original story at:

Rumours of the Chilis selling their catalogue first arose last year, with sources telling Billboard that the rockers were allegedly seeking around $350 million. Now, The Hollywood Reporter reports[1] that the band has finally made a deal with Warner Music Group, with the label paying over $300 million for all of the band’s master recordings.

[1] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-industry-news/...

tomhow• 2 months ago

Thanks, we updated the link.

Please submit the original source. If a post reports on something found on another site, submit the latter.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.htm

neom2• 2 months ago

Re: the "low price", they'd already sold their publishing right in 2021 for $140MM, so this is the master rights they sold for 300. By comparison, Springsteen sold both his together to Sony in 2021 for $500MM.

embedding-shape• 2 months ago

I don't think they're just selling the mastering rights here, it's the rights for the recordings that are being played that is being sold here.

The new deal with Warner Music Group hands over the rights to the official recordings, meaning the label will profit from any further streaming, radio play or album sales.

Edit: I'm stupid, you mean "master rights", which is correct, they're getting the rights of the masters. Your typo made me think of the act of mastering music, not the "masters".

neom2• 2 months ago

Fixed - thanks!

gedy• 2 months ago

Good for them. I have a memory of first seeing them in their video True Men Don't Kill Coyotes† around 1984? and thinking "wow these guys are terrible". In hindsight, they were very 90s and pretty ahead of their time.

† https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC3j1pNXhSU

baggachipz• 2 months ago

$300 million, all songs about California

pavel_lishin• 2 months ago

Please no more California songs.

cpursley• 2 months ago

This is unfair, they go All Around The World - from Alabama to Kazakhstan.

mtoner23• 2 months ago

Can't wait for the RHCP biopic in 2028!

DwnVoteHoneyPot• 2 months ago

It'll be a Broadway play first to test it out.

thih9• 2 months ago

With James Corden as Flea.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cfudXO_vzWk&t=10m50s

hnburnsy2• 2 months ago

Can't wait for the pharmaceutical commercials with RHCP jingles

trgn• 2 months ago

Feels cheap

vondur2• 2 months ago

Wow, I just a saw a YouTube video of Flea's house for sale in the LA suburb of La Crescenta for sale. Super nice house. Strangely I also saw Steve Vai's house for sale in LA at the same time. Also super nice house.

hnburnsy2• 2 months ago

Maybe trying to escape the wealth tax?

noitpmeder• 2 months ago

Not sure any of the band members are over 1b individually which is the current threshold. Maybe, though.

vondur2• 2 months ago

I think there is a "mansion" tax in Los Angeles proper, but La Crescenta is a separate city.

acomjean• 2 months ago

Well Flea just released a jazz record where he plays trumpet. I admire him for it, but might need some financing now.

https://youtu.be/1r0k2AW153g?si=-J6qNeyc3dHQJ6Gk

petre3• 2 months ago

He also played in a Star Wars series as a bad guy kidnapping Pricess Leia. I like him a lot.

bigbuppo• 2 months ago

I'd rather it be WMG than IP Venture Partners Acquisition Round 7 LLC like some bands have done.

0cf8612b2e1e• 2 months ago

Is there any write up about how these economics work? How much does the catalog generate in a year?

The band must be past peak popularity, with listens continuing to decline year after year.

reaperducer• 2 months ago

listens continuing to decline year after year.

Streaming music is only the tip of the iceberg.

Most TV commercials are using 30-year-old songs. Add to that streaming series (think Stranger Things), movies, public spaces, internet radio, actual radio, and hundreds of other licensing opportunities await.

bix62• 2 months ago

Someone writes an NPV and everyone says great! I looked into the math a bit when Bieber sold his. Didn’t seem worth it but what do I know.

asdff• 2 months ago

Now I can pirate guilt free

locusofself• 2 months ago

I have such a love/hate with this band. They have some great songs. Great musicians. John Frusciante is one of my favorite guitarists. But they are such cheeseballs, and in the case of Anthony Kiedes, pretty creepy.

ryandrake• 2 months ago

As someone not in the industry, what exactly does it mean? The band no longer can perform the music? They no longer get royalties? They no longer can profit at all from the music? They no longer have control over where/how it's sold? Or, something else? What exactly is Warner/Bain buying?

reactordev2• 2 months ago

All of the above. They are probably required to still perform the songs on behalf of Warner Music but that's it. They are free to write more music... Old music is no longer theirs though.

walrus013• 2 months ago

If they've sold the name, they may not be able to perform new music as the RHCP either. New musical projects would possibly need an entirely unrelated name of a music group.

wmf• 2 months ago

They sold the future royalties. "The new deal with Warner Music Group hands over the rights to the official recordings, meaning the label will profit from any further streaming, radio play or album sales."

walrus013• 2 months ago

It's a bit like an individual person taking the option of receiving a lottery payment in one large lump sum (and nothing else, ever), vs. receiving ongoing monthly/annual payments for some period going into the future. The new owner pays them one big lump sum and then the new owner gets all rights to license the content for things like car commercials on TV, streaming, reissues of box sets, radio, etc. Also for derivative works of all forms and basically whatever the new owner wants to do with it.

nutjob2• 2 months ago

They have an asset that earns regular income. They are selling the asset and forgoing the regular income in exchange for a lump sum from the sale.

For instance if you own a rental property, you get regular income from rent. If you sell the house you get a lump sum and no longer get any rent.

In this case the asset is musical recordings.

HDBaseT• 2 months ago

Hopefully someone can remaster/re-release their albums with less awful mastering from the master recordings.

Most copies, including the copies on Streaming Services for Califonication are genuinely unlistenable. [0].

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20221117074108/https://dr.loudne... [1] - https://web.archive.org/web/20221117074109/https://dr.loudne... [2] - https://web.archive.org/web/20221117074108/https://dr.loudne...

hulitu2• 2 months ago

This is true for a lot of bands. Guns n' Roses, Iron Maiden, Metallica.

iou• 2 months ago

That’s all they got?!

TitaRusell2• 2 months ago

Janis Joplin in a car commercial was the funniest thing ever and it oddly made sense. Most people are just not cool enough to die from alcohol or drugs and they become the boomers.

Esophagus4• 2 months ago

Bon Jovi selling insurance during the Super Bowl…

Tough look.

Traster• 2 months ago

I'm always weirded out by this process because it's such a squishy thing. How much are the rights worth? Well, take the revenue from the last 5 years and project it out. But they released a new album in 2022, so that year is going to look strange isn't it. Oh and they have a documentary this year so presumably that spiked some stream as well didn't it.

Also, if they hadn't sold they would've benefitted by releasing new albums they would got an extra bump from people listening to the old stuff, they don't get that now. Oh and how do you model the revenue bump when Flea dies and everyone streams RHCP non-stop for a week.

It's also a weird principal agent problem because RHCP primarily influence how much revenue these rights are worth, but once they sell the rights then the rightsholder's revenue stream is highly sensitive to what RHCP do in the future. What is RHCP sell the rights, then come out as Nazis, then buy the rights back and then recant? You know what I mean?

Red Hot Chili Peppers ink $300M deal with Warner Music to sell catalog

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