Phill Collins and Genesis sell publishing rights and master recordings for $300million

Phil Collins and his Genesis bandmates have sold a portion of their songs’ assets to Concord Music Group, including the publishing rights and master recordings for much of Genesis’ music.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal was valued at more than $300million and will also include master recordings of songs from throughout Collins’ solo career, such as ‘In the Air Tonight’, ‘You’ll Be In My Heart’ and ‘Against All Odds’, and his popular covers of Diane & Annita’s ‘A Groovy Kind Of Love’ and ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ by the Supremes.

Genesis recordings within the package will likely include hits such as ‘Invisible Touch’, ‘That’s All’, ‘Land Of Confusion’ and ‘Follow You, Follow Me’. The deal also includes material that Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford released with his group, Mike & the Mechanics.

Speaking to WSJ, Concord president Bob Valentine said they were aiming to bring Collins and Genesis’ back catalogue to a younger generation of listeners. “In the world we live in today with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, all these things that drive consumption of older music, there are definitely ways for us as a record company to bring some of this music back to life,” Valentine said.

Collins and Genesis’ decision to part with their songs follows many other high-profile artists selling their publishing rights in recent years, such as Bruce Springsteen, who last year sold his masters and publishing rights to Sony Music in a combined deal worth around $500million.

Bob Dylan, meanwhile, sold his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal Music Publishing Group in 2020, for a figure in the region of $300million. Neil Young, last year, made a deal with Hipgnosis Songs Fund, who bought 50 per cent of the rights to his back catalogue for an estimated $150million.

Back in March, Genesis bid farewell with their final performance as a group. The band – Collins, Rutherford and Banks, along with touring musicians Daryl Stuermer, Nic Collins, Daniel Pearce and Patrick Smyth – completed their ‘The Last Domino?’ tour with a sold-out show at London’s O2 Arena.