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
Universal’s acquisition of Downtown Music Group - further thoughts (see Comment)
Spotify paid out $10bn to the music industry in 2024 (see Reports)
Spotify’s music team reveals its Artists To Watch in 2025 (see Digital)
How Yungblud is building a $100m business (see Features)
Universal Music Group and Spotify strike new multi-year agreement (see News)
What's the strategy behind Universal's Downtown purchase, and why are some famous indie labels so opposed to it? (see Comment)
How random, really, is Spotify’s shuffle feature? (see Features)
BRIT Awards 2025 nominations revealed (see News)
US market-share 2024: Will the status quo continue to shift in 2025? (see Reports)
Spotify's Sulinna Ong: The playlist power broker who makes or breaks new artists (see Features)
Ticket inflation is getting worse, so where does all the money go? (see Features)
What the songs with a billion streams on Spotify tell us about music taste today (see Features)
What Spotify took from us by giving us everything (see Features)
Luminate 2024 year-end music report: Global audio streaming grows 14%, driven by ex-US markets (see Reports)
Labour’s AI plan could be good for British people – except the creatives (see Opinion)