The market for the publishing and recording rights of different music catalogs has allegedly been cooling. However, another artist has hopped on the bandwagon and made a massive payday by selling off their publishing rights and master recordings (this time around it has happened in one package deal), and it is not the type of longstanding legacy artist it normally is in these scenarios.
Instead, it is Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, who has allegedly closed a deal in the eight figures for her catalog with Domain Capital, based on a recent Billboard story.
Iggy Azalea is notably a lot earlier in her life and career than many artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, and many of the others who have already cashed in on their catalogs lately. Thus, it is ideal for her that this deal appears to be just for her existing catalog, while letting her “fully own her masters and publishing on all forthcoming music” starting 2023 through her independently owned label Bad Dreams.
This deal also features “an additional trigger” for the artist to earn even increased revenue on her older recordings in the future under various financial conditions.
Iggy Azalea herself confirmed this news on her official Twitter account, replying to a tweet from a fan who expressed worries that the deal may leave her “like Taylor [Swift],” without control of her original master recordings:
“Taylor did not profit from that sale. I sold a portion of my catalog to who I wanted, for an amount that means I don’t have to work another day in my life. I love y’all down but the masters conversation is a little beyond most of your understanding of business.”
She went on in another post:
“I sold a portion of my catalog to who I wanted, for an amount that means I don’t have to work another day in my life.”
Iggy Azalea is allegedly working on a new album currently, expected to be released sometime in 2023.