Dr. Dre Selling His Catalogue

Last year rapper Future sold the publishing rights to his entire music catalogue [click here if you missed that]. 

Now Dr. Dre is in negotiations to sell his publishing rights...

From Variety

Dr. Dre is selling a collection of music income streams and other assets in a deal that was being pitched for $250 million, sources confirm to Variety.

The assets, which generate nearly $10 million annually, are being acquired by Shamrock Holdings and Universal Music Group in two separate transactions. The deals, which have been rumored for several weeks, are said to be nearly closed and were shopped by Dre’s longtime attorney Peter Paterno of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano.

The assets are said to include artist royalties from two of his solo albums and his share of N.W.A. artist royalties; his producer royalties; and the writer’s share of his song catalog where he doesn’t own publishing, which may include songs from his 1993 blockbuster album “The Chronic.” According to Billboard’s sources, that portion includes 75% to 90% of the package’s revenue and is likely being acquired by Shamrock (which owns some Taylor Swift master recordings), with UMG acquiring the remaining 10% to 25%.

Included in UMG’s acquisition would be the master recording of “The Chronic,” which is scheduled to revert to Dre from Death Row Entertainment (which recently was acquired by Dre’s protégé Snoop Dogg last year) in August of this year; his share of an Aftermath/Interscope joint venture with the Top Dawg label for Kendrick Lamar releases through that deal; and possibly some other assets. It does not include his ownership stake in the Aftermath label, which he co-owns with his longtime label home, UMG’s Interscope Records.