Tina Turner sells music rights to BMG
LONDON >> Soul and rock star Tina Turner has sold the rights to her music catalog to music company BMG, the latest vocal artist to strike such a deal for their work.
In a statement Wednesday, BMG, owned by German media company Bertelsmann AG, said it would “be a partner in all of Tina Turner’s music interests.”
The deal includes Turner’s artist’s share of her recordings, her music publishing writer’s share, neighboring rights and name, image and likeness. BMG did not disclose the price it paid. According to a report from the BBC, industry sources said the figure would be north of $50 million.
The “What’s Love Got to Do with It” and “The Best” singer, 81, launched her solo career in the 1980s.
Before that, Turner and former husband Ike Turner, who died of a cocaine overdose in 2007, enjoyed huge success in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They divorced in 1978 after a stormy marriage in which she said she was beaten.
Turner has 10 solo studio albums, two live albums, two soundtracks and five compilations, which together have sold more than 100 million records, BMG said, adding Warner Music would remain as the Grammy Award winner’s record company.
“Like any artist, the protection of my life’s work, my musical inheritance, is something personal,” Turner said in the statement. “I am confident that with BMG and Warner Music my work is in professional and reliable hands.”
Bob Dylan and Mick Fleetwood also have made similar deals in the past year, while Hipgnosis Songs Fund has snapped up the rights to artists from Neil Young to Shakira, benefiting from a pandemic-driven boom in music streaming.
“Tina Turner’s musical journey has inspired hundreds of millions of people around the world and continues to reach new audiences,” BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said.