Midge Ure sells back catalogue to MusicBird to “take the songs to new audiences”

Midge Ure has sold his catalogue of music rights to investment company MusicBird.

The company announced on Tuesday (March 28) that they had acquired the writer’s share, master recording and neighbouring rights income on more than 300 songs across Ure’s solo career and his work with Ultravox, Visage, the Rich Kids, Slik and more.

“It is a significant moment for me as an artist and songwriter to see my songs find a new home at MusicBird with people who are genuinely passionate about music,” said Ure. “I think this team will take the songs to new audiences and I am excited to be working with them on that.”

It is not known how much the catalogue was sold for.

Ure was a member in bands such as Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids, Visage and was the lead singer of Ultravox. He produced, co-wrote and performed on several synth-pop and new wave classics such as ‘Fade to Grey’ by Visage, the Ultravox hits ‘Vienna’ and ‘Dancing with Tears in My Eyes’ and his UK Number One hit ‘If I Was’, taken from his top 10 album ‘The Gift’.

He also co-wrote and produced the 1984 Band Aid charity single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ – which was not part of the MusicBird acquisition.

Back in 2019, the singer and his charity single co-writer and producer Bob Geldof angrily denied rumours that they took any of the proceeds from Band Aid.

The song was that year’s Christmas Number One and went on to be the best-selling single of all-time in Britain at one point. It has sold over two million copies and raised over £200million for famine relief.

Artists selling their rights and back catalogs has been increasingly prevalent in recent years. Bob Dylan recently sold his his entire songwriting catalogue to Universal Music for a massive $300 million (£225 million) in 2020, giving Universal the ownership of over 600 songs spanning a period of almost six decades.

Last year saw Sting sell his entire songwriting catalogue, following similar deals with the label Warner Chappell that saw them them strike deals with Bruno Mars, Cardi B, Quincy Jones, Anderson .Paak and Saweetie, alongside the estates of George Michael and David Bowie.

Other artists who have sold their rights elsewhere include Neil Young, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen  and Fleetwood Mac members Mick Fleetwood and Lindsay Buckingham.

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