Queen Catalogue Sale

Moved to existing discussion thread.  

Do you have a source link for that?

The Star Fleet Project album was originally Raincloud Productions, which is under the umbrella of QPL. If that's still the case and this news about the acquisition is true, then surely this should be accounted for since Brian has gone public about it.

A quick run through discogs.com shows the rest of Brian's solo catalog is Duck Productions, which is separate from QPL. Mr. Bad Guy is Raincloud, so that may be in the QPL bundle. Roger's catalog is part Raincloud and part Nightjar productions (his own company), so his earlier albums may be part of the deal too. But we don't know if they're buying just the Queen albums or taking everything QPL owns.

I guess we'll find out once the box set is released, as it'll all be in the fine print.

Interesting. I guess that's what you call NOT keeping all your eggs in one basket.

Yeah. Freddie, Brian, and Roger all started their own companies in the mid-'70s, but their solo music wasn't immediately on those labels. Roger didn't use Nightjar until Shove It in 1987.

Most of this is pretty moot though, as it doesn't command the dollars that Queen's biggest songs and albums do.

The sad thing is, whatever deals are made, it's clearly in preparation for retirement. Realistically that can't be too far away - at least from touring.

Not necessarily. I seriously doubt such deals require artists to hand over their personal tape archives.

The big money is in the studio tracks that were recorded 40-50 years ago.

Now I've got Have a Cigar stuck in my head. Indeed the white suits are "riding the gravy train," more than ever before.

Thank you, The Real Wizard!  This is all very confusing to me.

I am pleased to hear that it is something that is not set in stone, so to speak; that there is room for individual agreements, etc. I should think that Queen would choose to have as much control as they possibly can if they make this deal; knowing Roger - and especially Brian - I cannot see them relinquishing too much power or control when it comes to their catalogue and how it is used.

They definitely have power to say what ads use their music and have turned down a number of them. 

Personally, I do not think their choices over the last 3 decades have been that bad; I mean, they are bigger than they have ever been, so they must have done something right. Do I agree with every single decision they have made? Nope. But do I think they seem to know what they are doing? Yep. What they have done best is to keep Queen in the public eye for over 30 years without their lead singer being around - I would much rather overkill regarding their music being on soundtracks, adverts, etc. than them not being out there at all. 

Or they dont care about the money as much as everyone thinks.

They've got one of the best lawyers in the biz as their manager. They'll retain whatever they can.

This has nothing to do with their intelligence. I assure you that QPL are massively prudent in all of their legal affairs.

You're quoting an article from 2019. Here's one from 2021:

www.radiox.co.uk/artists/queen/this-is-how-much-queen-are-making-from-the-bohemian-rhapsody-film-every-day

While it's very likely that there was money exchanged for their likeness to be used in the movie, the payments were probably just delayed. We just can't comment on things we don't know enough about.

It's standard fare for celebrities to sign waivers allowing actors to depict them in such a film, and then their hands are mostly washed clean of it, save for an agreed amount of creative control they're allowed to maintain - details the public are not privy to. Chances are Brian and Roger were paid as consultants for their input. Brian was very public about his involvement in the film's production, and you can bet your left nut he wasn't working for free. But when that money exchanged hands is not something that ever goes public. In 2019 Brian was probably airing frustration that the money hadn't shown up for a film that had begun production nearly a decade earlier and had been out for six months. No doubt they have been paid in full by now.

Initially that was the deal but sometime before the 2011 remasters it seems that Hollywood Records now owns the North American rights.  All releases now just say "Hollywood Records" and nothing about being "under license from QPL".  Not forseeing their eventual surge in popularity they seemed to have sold it to Disney.  That's gotta stick in their craw today!  We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars they are missing out on.