Rod Stewart Sells Music Catalog…

British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart, famous for hits such as Maggie May and Sailing, has sold the rights to his music catalog for close to US$100 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the newspaper, Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artist Group acquired Stewart’s rights to his musical catalog, recordings and image.

The deal between Stewart and the group reinforces a trend in the music market, which has attracted more and more investors interested in the copyrights generated by artists and the works they produce. So much so that the news of the sale comes less than a week after Sony announced a deal in which it acquired half of Michael Jackson’s musical catalog and recordings.

The details of the deal over the King of Pop’s legacy are unknown, but The New York Times claims that Jackson’s assets are valued at US$1.2 billion, which may have led the record company to pay at least US$600 million.

In recent years, a number of artists have traded their catalogs, including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young. The owners of a song’s rights receive money from reproduction and radio broadcasts, the sale of albums and their use in advertising or films.