Here's another cautionary tale for owning your own publishing as an artist. It's interesting how none of the artists are involved in this decision; that someone can sell an artist's catalog without the artists, the artist's family, etc. being at least being involved in the discussion. It's another reminder that most artists really don't own the fruits of their craft. ever.
this is also a reminder of how bad business decisions can screw you over, even in death. (So much for Afeni owning all her son's work.)
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WMG OFFERS $25 MILLION FOR DEATH ROW: Warner Music Group hopes to purchase label's music-related assets.
Warner Music Group may end up with rights to recordings from Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg if the company gets its wish to purchase music-related assets from Death Row Records.
WMG is offering a bid of $25 million for the assets, according to the Associated Press. The court-appointed administrators running the bankruptcy estates of Death Row and owner Marion Suge Knight have asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles to approve the bidding procedures and leading bid at a Feb. 26 hearing.
The purchase "will result in the highest or best collective recovery for the estates," said R. Todd Neilson, the Chapter 11 trustee of Death Row Records' estate, in court documents filed Friday.
Neilson said he has spent more than a year analyzing the record company's financial information to determine whether it would be best to pursue a plan of reorganization or a sale of the company's assets. He said significant in the company's financial and business records that remain have led him to decide in favor of a sale.
In addition to music rights, the assets for sale include videos, master copies of recordings, merchandising rights and inventory.
Neilson proposed that potential bidders submit their offers by April 11 for an April 24 auction. He asked that the court give final approval to the sale at a May 12 hearing. Competing bidders must initially exceed Warner's offer by at least $1 million, and subsequent bids must increase by increments of at least $100,000, Neilson requested.
Neilson said he began meeting with potential buyers last spring, and that 18 parties have entered into confidentiality agreements to access company records and research a transaction, including companies with prior relationships to the record company or Knight, strategic buyers, major record labels and other entities in the music industry.
Death Row Records received bids from last summer, according to Neilson, but Warner's bid was determined to be "the bid most likely to enable the estates to recover fair consideration for the acquired assets.
WMG already houses such record labels as Atlantic, Bad Boy, Elektra, Rhino and Warner Bros. According to the company's annual report, its earnings for the year ended Sept. 30 were $3.385 billion.
