Three sources tell Variety the publishing assets of the bandmembers — Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the estate of Freddie Mercury, all of whom are equal shareholders in Queen Productions Ltd.
Currently, Queen's catalogue is owned by Disney Music Group which purchased the rights for a reported $10 million in 1991. Speaking with CNN, a source close to the acquisition revealed that the discussions were “well underway” and the deal would be finalised “within one month.”
In 1991, Disney acquired the Exclusive distribution rights to Queen's entire music catalogue in all North American territories , as a way to add value to their recently created record company, Hollywood Records, which the agreement remains to this day.
This UK-based organization is jointly and equally owned by the estate of Freddie Mercury and the three living founding members of Queen – Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor. The income that Queen's songs generate each year is received by Queen Productions Ltd.
Queen's music is copyrighted. All music is protected by copyright, and that copyright lasts for at least 50 years after its creator's death (the exact length of time varies from country to country and may depend on such factors as when it was first published and whether it is a corporate work).
In the past three years, according to Queen Productions Ltd, the band's rights have generated some £134.5 million ($186 million) in royalties. That's an average across these three years of $62 million per annum. This figure obviously represents income from Queen's recorded music as well as music publishing.
Freddie Mercury – US$50 million.
QUEEN members Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, as well as the estate of the band's late singer Freddie Mercury — reportedly each own equal shares in the company Queen Productions Ltd, which owns the group's recording catalog outside the U.S. and Canada.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, A Night at the Opera (1975).
What was Freddie Mercury's Net Worth? Freddie Mercury was a British singer/songwriter and musician who had a net worth of $50 million dollars at the time of his death in 1991 (after adjusting for inflation).
Queen Still Hasn't Made Any Money Off 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
“We thought it would do well in the end, we felt good about it, but we didn't realize it would do that well,” May said in a recent interview on BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. “It's incredible around the world. It's like a billion-dollar movie.”
Royal was founded in May 2021 by Justin Blau, who is popularly known as 3LAU. The company is backed by musicians such as The Chainsmokers, Logic, and Kygo. Royal founder 3LAU gave away the first tokenized music offering in a contest for 50% of royalties for his song "Worst Case" in 2021.
Disney paid $10 million for the distribution rights in 1990. In 1991 Queen released their first album under Hollywood Records, Innuendo. Unfortunately, the tragic death of Queen front man Freddie Mercury followed soon after on November 24, 1991.
Places like Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are owned by the monarch of the moment because of their position as king or queen, while other properties, like Balmoral and Sandringham House, are personally owned and not publicly funded.
However, technically, all of the lands of Wales, Northern Ireland, and England belong to the Crown Estate. (Scotland created its own estate in 2016, the Crown Estate Scotland, which is run as a public corporation on behalf of the Scottish government.) The entirety of the Crown Estate is worth $34.3 billion in assets.
Yes! authorship royalties. A part of the distribution rights royalties (because of his co-ownership of Queen Ltd.)
“We have had no plans, nor do we have future plans to sell the Queen catalogue,” the spokesperson said. Disney reportedly paid $10 million for the distribution rights to the band's catalog in 1991.
After his death, mourning fans covered the wall with graffiti messages. The house was inherited by Mercury's close friend Mary Austin following his death at the house in 1991. Bridget Cherry, writing in the 1991 London: North West edition of the Pevsner Architectural Guides described the house as "well hidden".
After months of murmurs, news broke just before the long Memorial Day weekend that, according to unnamed sources, the surviving members of Queen were in the process of selling the legendary group's catalog for a mind-boggling $1 billion.
Is Queen's Catalogue Really Worth $1 Billion? Have you heard of this crazy little thing called money? Queen is preparing to sell its music catalogue for a record-breaking $1 billion, CNN reports, which would set it up to be the most expensive catalogue sale in history.
In the case of Queen Elizabeth the answer is zero. She had nothing to do with Live Aid. In the case of the band Queen it is impossible to say. There were lots of bands there that day and no way of saying that an individual band earned anything - it was a joint effort.
Queen also released Made In Heaven their fifteenth studio album November 6, 1995. This was the band's first release after Freddie Mercury died but with Freddie's vocals.
With his farewell look straight at the camera as the song ends, Mercury whispers "I still love you", directed to his fans, which are his last words on camera. Director of the video Rudi Dolezal comments, "AIDS was never a topic. We never discussed it. He didn't want to talk about it.
Austin inherited Mercury's One Garden Lodge mansion and the bulk of Mercury's estate, with the remainder going to his parents and sister and about $692,000 apiece going to Freestone and Mercury's boyfriend, Jim Hutton.
Mary Austin. She has been described as “his closest true friend" in interviews by Freddie for David Wigg.