Rod Stewart Sells Song Catalog In Deal Worth Nearly $100 Million – Report

Rod Stewart has become the latest classic-rock superstar to sell his song catalog in what the Wall Street Journal reports is a nearly $100 million deal.

Stewart, whose hits include such 1970s rock staples as “Maggie May,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” “You Wear It Well” and “You’re in My Heart,” sold his interests in his publishing catalog and recorded music, as well as some name and likeness rights, to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group.

The WSJ, citing sources familiar with the deal, reports that Azoff’s Iconic has also raised more than $1 billion in new capital for future catalog investments led by the private markets investment firm HPS Investment Partners.

Stewart’s catalog covers 10 No. 1 albums, and six consecutive decades with studio albums that sold more than one million copies each. The catalog he sold includes work from his solo career and also stretches back to his participation with the bands Faces and the Jeff Beck Group.

Currently on a world tour and planning his final Las Vegas summer residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Stewart will release his 32nd studio album, a big-band salute titled “Swing Fever.”

“Irving and I are a couple of old-timers and I believe we have a mutual respect and admiration for each other,” Stewart told the WSJ about Azoff. “My life’s work is in safe hands with him.” Azoff’s company also owns catalogs of the Beach Boys, Cher, Dean Martin, David Crosby, Linda Ronstadt and others.