Culture
04 Jan 22

David Bowie's back catalogue sold for upwards of $250 million

The news comes in the same week that the Thin White Duke would have turned 75. We have details of the special commemorative events that are being planned...

David Bowie's estate has sold the rights of his "entire body of work" to Warner Chappell Music for what well-placed sources say is "upwards of $250 million."

It comes just weeks after Bruce Springsteen sold his back catalogue to Sony Music Entertainment for an estimated $550m.

The Bowie deal includes the 26 albums he released under his own name whilst still alive, his two Tin Machine flights of fancy and Toy, the "lost" 2000 collection, which was made available digitally in November as part of the Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) box-set and gets a standalone vinyl release this week to coincide with what have been the Thin White Duke's 75th birthday on Saturday January 8.

As part of the Bowie 75 commemorations. pop-up shops are also currently open close to his former New York home at 150 Wooster Street and 14 Heddon Street, the London location where the iconic Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars album cover was shot in the early '70s. See https://bowie75.com for more.

Team Hot Press is counting down the hours to Saturday's A Bowie Celebration gig, which is being curated online by his longtime keyboards man Mike Garson, and which will feature guest appearances by the likes of Def Leppard, Noel Gallagher, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and John Taylor, Evan Rachel Wood, Rob Thomas, Gary Oldman, Walk The Moon, Ricky Gervais and Gerry Leonard, the Clontarf man who was his Musical Director for the Heathen, Reality and The Next Day albums.

Virtual tickets can be bought at https://rollinglivestudios.com with a portion of the sales going to Save The Children.

As a curtain-raiser, BBC Four aires the David Bowie: Five Years documentary at 10.50pm on Friday followed by a compilation of his numerous Top Of The Pops appearances.

American trade bible, Variety, is also reporting that Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck director Brett Morgan has compiled a new film from thousands of hours of rare and unseen Bowie footage. Described by a source as “neither documentary nor biography but an immersive cinematic experience," it could premiere as early as this spring. Needless to say, Hot Press will be mounting our own tribute this weekend to the Jones boy...