Red Hot Chili Peppers to sell songwriting catalogue in £100million deal
Red Hot Chili Peppers are selling their songwriting catalogue to Hipgnosis, joining an extensive list of artists who have recently signed over their intellectual property in multi-million dollar deals.
The deal, which Billboard reports may not have closed yet, is worth at least £100million ($140million) and is likely to include their hit tracks ‘Snow (Hey Oh)’, ‘Californication’, ‘Otherside’, ‘Can’t Stop’ and ‘Give It Away’, among others.
The band’s publishing catalogue was mostly written by frontman Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist John Frusciante. It reportedly generates $5million to $6million in net publishers’ share.
The sale follows multiple high-profile artists selling their catalogues to Hipgnosis or other companies. Acts including Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Paul Simon, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, Lindsay Buckingham, Blondie and David Crosby have recently sold off some or all of their songwriting works.
In November, Hipgnosis also acquired 42 catalogues comprising more than 33,000 songs from Kobalt Music Copyrights. The catalogues included songs written by Fleetwood Mac, 50 Cent, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey and more.
Red Hot Chili Pepper’s last album was ‘The Getaway’ in 2016. Since then, Frusciante has rejoined the group following a 10-year absence, and the band are currently creating new music.
“For now, we’ll mostly be concentrating on new songs and writing a new record,” drummer Chad Smith said in January last year. “We’re all real excited to make new music.”