Red Hot Chili Peppers are ready to part ways with their song catalog, but they’re not just going to give it away, give it away, give it away now. As Variety notes, the California rockers have reached a deal with Hipgnosis Songs that is said to be worth upwards of $140 million.
Founded in 1983, the Chili Peppers have been a force in alternative music for over three decades, with the bulk of the songwriting coming from singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and on-again off-again guitarist John Frusciante, who, as of 2019, is officially on-again.
It’s unclear if the deal has actually been finalized, but when it closes, it’s expected to include all of the band’s albums and biggest hits, including “Under the Bridge”, “Otherside”, “Can’t Stop”, “Dani California”, “Scar Tissue”, and “Give It Away”. Also unknown at this time is the ownership of future albums, such as the one that the group is currently writing. It will be Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first project with Frusciante since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
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Hipgnosis Songs was founded in 2018. Since then it has been on an accumulation bender, recently buying up the rights to half of Neil Young’s catalog, as well as everything by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, Shakira, producer Jimmy Iovine, and selected works of Bob Rock’s that included his share of Metallica’s self-titled album, aka the Black Album. Late last year, Bob Dylan sold his entire songwriting catalog to Universal Music for $300 million.
