Round Hill Music acquires Herman Rarebell’s music rights 16 Mar 2022
Original Scorpions’ Drummer Writer’s Share, Master Royalty & Neighbouring Rights Income Included in Global Deal.
Round Hill Music Fund 3 Plus has announced a worldwide acquisition agreement with Herman Rarebell, which includes his writer’s share of publishing, neighbouring rights, & master royalty income.
Best known as the original drummer in legendary German rock band The Scorpions, Herman Rarebell played a major part in the success of the band’s first 11 albums with his songwriting. He penned the lyrics for songs such as "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Make It Real", "Dynamite", "Blackout", "Arizona", "Bad Boys Running Wild", "Don't Stop at the Top", and "Tease Me Please Me".
Formed in 1965 in Hanover by Rudolf Schenker The Scorpions are estimated to have sold over 100 million records around the world, making them one of the best-selling hard rock and heavy metal bands. The band has released twelve studio albums that were in the top 10 in Germany, one of which reached number one, as well as three consecutive albums that were in the Top Ten in the Billboard 200 chart in the United States.
One of their most recognized hits is "Wind of Change" (from Crazy World), a symbolic anthem of the political changes in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it remains as one of the best-selling singles in the world with over 14 million copies. Two of the songs on their ninth studio album Love at First Sting, "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and "Still Loving You", are regarded as classics of the heavy metal genre.
Josh Gruss, Founder and CEO of Round Hill Music said, "The Scorpions are a truly legendary band with a catalogue of truly iconic music that helped define the heavy metal genre. Herman played a pivotal role in their success with writing credits on some of their most enduring songs and is a welcome addition to our roster of world class writers and performers.”
Robin Godfrey-Cass, Managing Director of Round Hill’s London office said, “The Scorpions are one of my favourite rock bands. To represent Herman's great body of work as a songwriter and performer from the band’s first 11 albums is an incredible honour.”
Herman Rarebell said, “It’s my pleasure to sign up with Round Hill Music. I feel I’m with the right Company. I am grateful to Josh Gruss, Robin Godfrey Cass and his team, and Marvin Katz, my attorney for making this happen.
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THE HEADLINES
The "ugly truth" about Spotify is finally revealed (see News)
WMG CEO Robert Kyncl addresses staff: ‘The industry is at a pivot point’ (see News)
Concerns raised over Virgin Music Group acquisition of Downtown (see News)
Creative Rights In AI Coalition calls on government to protect copyright as GAI policy develops (see News)
Virgin Music Group to acquire Downtown Music (see Business)
Majors labels' primary physical distributor Utopia Distribution Services collapses (see Business)
General Product Safety Regulation comes in to effect (see News)
End of year tours report: Coldplay recorded the most tickets sold by any artist on a single tour (see Analysis)
US media groups warn UK over AI content-scraping rules (see News)
Spotify’s music editors pick their songs of the year (see Digital)
For anyone who values music - know your enemy (see Comment)
Paul McCartney warns AI ‘could take over’ as UK debates copyright laws (see News)
Taylor Swift’s Eras tour smashes touring revenue record (see News)
Sony Music pulls catalogue from Boomplay over non-payment issues (see Digital)
What will Taylor Swift do next? (see Features)