Warner Music has just offered a "Frenchie" that makes the whole world dance.
At 53, DJ David Guetta agreed to cede his prolific “work” to the major and pocketed a big check in the process.
The deal is far-reaching: it covers the catalog of creations recorded by the successful French DJ over the past two decades, as well as his future titles.
Concretely, it is now the record company that will receive the royalties generated by the artist's old and upcoming hits.
While financial details of the deal were not disclosed, the Financial Times reported on Thursday that the deal amounted to more than $ 100 million, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Other sites put forward a figure between 100 and 150 million dollars.
A figure in Parisian evenings, notably at the legendary Palace and Bains Douches in the 90s, David Guetta quickly became a pillar of the nights of Ibiza, the Mecca of electronic music.
The French clubbing icon, who won two Grammy Awards, has acquired the status of an international music heavyweight thanks to his collaborations with stars such as Rihanna, Sia, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and Nicki Minaj.
Bob Dylan cedes his rights to Universal
The Frenchman already has a busy career.
He has sold a total of 50 million records and has accumulated 14 billion streams to date.
He is currently the eighth most listened to artist in the world by users of the audio streaming platform Spotify.
David Guetta is not the first to sell the rights to his hits.
A few months ago, Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog to Universal Music Publishing for an estimated amount of $ 300 million.
Canadian-American singer Neil Young and the duo behind Blondie also signed deals, as did Shakira.
The renewed interest in the music sector, boosted by streaming, has raised prices and encouraged artists to sell their rights. For their part, the majors and investment funds see it as an opportunity to build up long-term income. Each time a song is used in an advertisement, a movie or even on social networks such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch ... the rights holders indeed receive royalties.
