Rod Stewart sells rights to his song catalog for $100M to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group

Aging rocker Rod Stewart sold his song catalog, including hits like “Maggie May” and “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy,” as well as some name and likeness rights to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group for a $100 million.

People familiar with the transaction told The Wall Street Journal that the rights Stewart sold span his solo career as well as his time as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. 

The 79-year-old British rock star’s discography includes 10 No. 1 albums overall, and studio albums that sold more than one million copies each, The Journal reported.

IAG has also raised more than $1 billion in new capital for future catalog investments led by the private markets investment firm HPS Investment Partners, the people told The Journal.

Stewart joins an IAG roster that includes the Beach Boys, Cher, Joe Cocker, Nat King Cole, David Crosby, Dean Martin, Linda Ronstadt, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills, per the management company’s website.

On Feb. 23, the songwriter is set to release his 32nd studio album, “Swing Fever,” amid the world tour he’s currently on, which is set to end in September — a month after he concludes his 13-year Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace with its 200th show, The Journal reported.

Stewart, who’s on vocal rest ahead of a five-concert stint within four days, told The Journal via email: “Irving and I are a couple of old-timers and I believe we have a mutual respect and admiration for each other. My life’s work is in safe hands with him.”

Azoff, the former CEO of Ticketmaster and co-founder of IAG, inked the agreement with Stewart after he backed out of a potential deal to sell his catalog to London-based song-catalog manager Hipgnosis in May following two years of negotiations, according to The Journal.

Hipgnosis’s shareholders reportedly have its founder Merck Mercuriadis in the hot seat over alleged mismanagement, The Journal reported.

“This catalog represents my life’s work. And it’s become abundantly clear after much time and due diligence that this was not the right company to manage my song catalog, career or legacy,” Stewart said in a statement after walking away from the Hipgnosis negotiations.

When The Post sought comment from IAG, a spokesperson pointed to a press release on its partnership with Stewart, where the singer said “the time is right” of selling his song catalog.

Many music management companies have looked to dump capital into the market since the pandemic, when low interest rates made music catalogs an attractive investment for their relatively-predictable steady returns, per The Journal.

The appetite for music rights peaked in 2021 and 2022, with many catalogs raking in as much as 20 times their annual earnings.

“Interest rates are always going to come up and down. Music is forever,” Azoff told The Journal.

Meanwhile, IAG has said that it wants to function as an operating company rather than just a fund, adding value to song catalogs by focusing on ancillary projects that could serve as revenue streams.

Azoff’s firm, for example, got Ronstadt’s 1970 single “Long, Long Time” featured prominently in an episode of HBO’s hit series “The Last of Us” in 2023, The Journal reported.

The song — which is more than 50 years old — proceeded to garner attention as if it were a new release, with streams for Ronstadt’s music increasing more than five-fold in the wake of its inclusion in the HBO show, per The Journal.