The David Bowie Estate have sold the artist's songwriting catalog to Warner Chappell Music publishing for at least $250 million, Variety reports. According to a press release, the deal was for Bowie's "entire body of work," including the songs on his 26 studio albums, posthumous album Toy, his two albums with Tin Machine, along with non-LP singles, soundtrack contributions and more.
Bowie's studio albums were already licensed by Warner Music in a 2013 deal and the label has been reissuing those records, and putting out box sets, since Bowie's death 2016, like last year's Brilliant Adventure box set. Warner has renewed that agreement, which will now include the rights to release his 2000-2016 work, and will go into effect in 2023.
"This fantastic pact with the David Bowie estate opens up a universe of opportunities to take his extraordinary music into dynamic new places," said WCM's Carianne Marshall. "This isn't merely a catalog, but a living, breathing collection of timeless songs that are as powerful and resonant today as they were when they were first written. We were pleased that the estate felt that Warner Chappell has the knowledge, experience, and resources to take the reins and continue to promote a collection of this stature. All of our global leaders and departments are incredibly excited and primed to get to work with these brilliant songs across multiple avenues and platforms. And with both sides of WMG now representing Bowie's career, we couldn't be better set up to represent this illustrious body of work."
In other news: David Bowie's 75th birthday would've been this Saturday (1/11) and the Bowie Estate is celebrating with pop-ups and more. There's also a new David Bowie documentary in the works featuring thousands of hours of unseen footage.
Pick up the Brilliant Adventure box and classic Bowie albums on vinyl in the BV shop.