The EXPENSIVE Queen Catalog

The rock band Queen wrote another chapter into their historical career in June when their catalog was sold to Sony Music for 1.27 BILLION dollars. Among their hits are some stadium standards like “We Will Rock You”, “Another One Bites the Dust”, and, of course “We Are The Champions”.   

With Sony Music obtaining the rights to Queen’s music, this may affect the sports world.  Queen was already an expensive band to license and were regularly higher than most artists when the catalog was held with Hollywood Records (a division of Disney Music).  We anticipate these rates to rise with Sony Music in control of the catalog.

Teams have already been met with rising rates for music use for in-stadium, social media and broadcast use, and have planned accordingly by slightly increasing music budgets annually. However, Sony has always been at the top (or close to it) when setting rates for music licensing with sports teams. 

Licensing is becoming more expensive, as are game tickets, concert seats and all forms of entertainment in general.    It’s the new lay of the land that all teams and those that license music are settling in to. 

The Queen catalog will end up making a lot of money for Sony, and Sony knows they will eventually make back their 1.27 BILLION dollar investment.  However, that may come to the detriment of teams who win a championship.  Recent uses of “We Are the Champions” were some of the most expensive sports music licenses we have seen.  It’s important to know that this track is ICONIC.  It’s expected to be played when championships are won, and fans love it.  Teams will have to pay for the privilege of being woven into the legendary status of that track.

As playoffs begin, and eyes are set firmly on the ultimate goal, start thinking of your championship roll out early.  If you don’t want to pay for the use of the greatest championship song of all time, then have other music at the ready and do not get caught off guard.  For more on these alternate tracks, please read our blog from January 31st of 2024, “Beyond Queen: 10 Anthems to Celebrate Championships”.  This should give you a few more options to consider as you raise your trophy high.