Frank Zappa Catalog & Vault Acquired by Universal

[Winslow]

From Variety:

"Universal Music Group has announced an agreement with Frank Zappa’s family to acquire the legendary musician’s recordings, publishing catalog, film archive, name and likeness, and the contents of “The Vault,” the storage facility that houses his complete archives. The agreement is between UMG and the Zappa trust — comprising the musician’s children Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva Zappa — and spans his four-decade career. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, expands on a previous partnership and the assets will continue to be managed by the company’s recorded-music catalog division, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), and Universal Music Publishing Group."

Story continues here:

Frank Zappa's Recordings, Song Catalog and More Acquired by Universal - Variety

 

[Jeff Scott]

From Variety:

"Universal Music Group has announced an agreement with Frank Zappa’s family to acquire the legendary musician’s recordings, publishing catalog, film archive, name and likeness, and the contents of “The Vault,” the storage facility that houses his complete archives. The agreement is between UMG and the Zappa trust — comprising the musician’s children Moon, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva Zappa — and spans his four-decade career. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, expands on a previous partnership and the assets will continue to be managed by the company’s recorded-music catalog division, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), and Universal Music Publishing Group."

Story continues here:

Frank Zappa's Recordings, Song Catalog and More Acquired by Universal - Variety

I hope they don't sanitize it.

 

[MonetBass]

I hope they don't sanitize it.

They'd be foolish if they did. But I agree with you.

 

[dalkowski]

I hope they don't sanitize it.

I hope their storage protocols have improved since '08:

The Day the Music Burned (Published 2019)

 

[Jeff Scott]

I hope their storage protocols have improved since '08:

The Day the Music Burned (Published 2019)

Surely, the family has their own backups.

 

[Michedelic]

I’m surprised the kids were in agreement; there had been some squabbling over some similar matters. I guess they’re only in it for the money.

 

[2112]

Hopefully they don't burn it down in another fire.

 

[LBS-bass]

I’m surprised the kids were in agreement; there had been some squabbling over some similar matters. I guess they’re only in it for the money.

It might be easier on the family to let someone else own the rights, since they could never come to much agreement. I am curious as to how this is going to impact the half dozen or so touring bands who are doing Frank's music.

 

[Spidey2112]

I am curious as to how this is going to impact the half dozen or so touring bands who are doing Frank's music.

There surely won't be any free-for-all when it comes to Green Roomoom candy, that's for sure.

 

[higain617]

I think this was probably a maneuver by Ahmet.

 

[thunesBARROW]

Wow, I find this to be very sad news. I don’t even know what to say… I hope that musicians can continue to perform FZ’s music. Maybe they’ll be more generous with access to his scores now?

 

[kentiki]

This has to be an improvement compared to the way the family managed it.

 

[Carl Hillman]

It might be easier on the family to let someone else own the rights, since they could never come to much agreement. I am curious as to how this is going to impact the half dozen or so touring bands who are doing Frank's music.

With a corporation, you'd think that "quality control" would take a back seat to possible money generated by performance royalties. UMG would also hope those would help sell physical product.

Just about any thing can be written into a contract, though. It's not inconceivable that one of the kids retained a measure of control over permission to perform/record FZ's works.

 

[J Wilson]

This is great. I can't wait to hear some Zappa tune in a Huggies commercial, or background music going to commercial during a ball game. Elevator music !

 

[evil dewars]

Kind of torn, as a Zappaphile and am I maybe happy at the possiblility of more music?

But corporate malfeasance and poor Frank's spinning.

 

[Beej]

I think this was probably a maneuver by Ahmet.

Agreed - as trustee, he's basically the trust. They've never really disclosed a lot of terms of the trust, but the fact that the siblings opposed his appointment speaks something about the implications of his being made trustee.

 

[80jazz]

I believe Dweezil and Ahmet have since patched things up. However, the trust is not evenly split between the children.

I am with higain617 on this one.

 

[two fingers]

If someone were to grant me control over his catalog and storage facility right now I wouldn't have any idea what to do with them. I would likely have to sell the rights to a company that would he able to take care of all of the business.

Frank's kids are no different. They're not music execs.

 

[80jazz]

Frank's kids are no different. They're not music execs.

No, but Dweezil and Ahmet have a good idea of how the business works.

My concern is that the catalog was sold for solvency purposes (Dweezil has hinted at problems in this department). I wouldn't assume that Universal would handle this in the manner it should be.

 

[IamJohn]

Hope Dweezil can still go out and perform. Saw Zappa plays Zappa live; really as tight as you might imagine. I go to Zappa fest most years, which has a lot of great players, but ZPZ is clearly on another level. It would be a shame if that had to end.