Tina Turner and Other Legendary Black Musicians Who Sold Their Publishing Rights

By Okla Jones · Updated October 12, 2021

Last week, singer Tina Turner sold the rights to her music catalogue spanning more than 60 years, including songs such as “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “The Best,” and “Private Dancer,” to German music publishing company BMG.

In what was the largest deal struck with a single artist in BMG’s history, Turner sold the management of her name, image and likeness, as well as artist’s and writer’s shares of her recordings for an undisclosed sum. According to Music Business Worldwide, experts estimate the deal is worth over $50 million.

The 81-year-old icon isn’t the first big artist to monetize the value of past hits in today’s streaming era. Her move follows Neil Young’s agreement with the music company Hipgnosis, and Universal Music’s $300 million deal with Bob Dylan.

“Tina Turner’s musical journey has inspired literally hundreds of millions of people around the world and continues to reach new audiences,” Hartwig Masuch, chief executive of BMG stated. “We are honored to take on the job of managing Tina Turner’s musical and commercial interests. It is a responsibility we take seriously and will pursue diligently.”

Turner, who at the end of this month is slated to be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame for a second time, will continue as a recording artist on Warner Music’s books following this enormous deal.

“Like any artist, the protection of my life’s work, my musical inheritance, is something personal,” she said. “I am confident that with BMG and Warner Music my work is in professional and reliable hands.”

As part of the deal, BMG will also work with Turner on her future releases. “With Warner and Tina, we want to expand our reach and influence new audiences,” Masuch said. “What’s the YouTube strategy, what do we do with TikTok? You have to be far beyond any approach where you’re just releasing a best-of album every four years or selling rights for a documentary.”

Turner isn’t the first artist to sell recording rights to a publishing company. Throughout the years, there have been many musicians to do so. Below, is a list of some of history’s most notable Black artists to have their recording or publishing rights purchased.

01

Bob Marley

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell sold rights to the legendary Bob Marley’s catalogue to Primary Wave in January 2018 for upwards of $50 million.

02

Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson signed an agreement with Primary Wave in 2016. The $22 million deal gave Primary Wave ownership of songs Robinson wrote by himself prior to 1960, as well as everything written after 1978.

03

Ray Charles

In May 2020, the owners of Ray Charles’ estate sold the majority of the publishing and writer’s share of the icon’s records written before 1964 to Primary Wave. This includes songs such as “Ain’t That Love,” “I Got a Woman,” and “What’d I Say.”

04

Prince

According to the Independent, in 2017, Universal acquired the rights to 25 Prince albums through his label, NPG Records. The deal gave Universal exclusive licensing rights to the late artist’s work, and they are able to release much of Prince’s private archive. Prince died in 2016 at the age of 57.

05

War

The funk-rock band War sold the rights to their catalogue including the band’s hits such as “Low Rider,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” and “Slippin’ Into Darkness.”