Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Red Hot Chili Peppers Sell Recorded-Music Catalog to WMG for More Than $300 Million
Red Hot Chili Peppers sold their recorded-music catalog to WMG for more than $300M via WMG's $1.2B joint venture with Bain Capital.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have sold their recorded music catalog to Warner Music Group for more than $300 million, a source told Billboard. The purchase was made through WMG’s $1.2 billion joint venture with Bain Capital.
(L-R) Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers are seen backstage at the 2022 MTV VMAs at Prudential Center on August 28, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for MTV/Paramount Global
Billboard was first to report in February 2025 that the band was shopping its recorded catalog, with sources saying the group had been seeking up to $350 million. At that time, some sources told Billboard a deal had been reached and that WMG was the most likely buyer, but money had not yet changed hands.
It remains unclear which specific assets are included. Sources previously told Billboard the band owns its 13 studio albums and other releases issued by WMG in the U.S., but Billboard could not determine whether the first four studio albums released by EMI in the U.S. were part of the sale. It is also unclear whether the deal covers the band’s name, image and likeness rights.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported that the sale had been executed on Friday, May 8, after WMG said the Bain joint venture had acquired $650 million in recorded music and publishing catalogs so far.
Billboard estimates the Red Hot Chili Peppers master recording catalog generates roughly $26 million in revenue each year. The bulk of that income comes from WMG’s portion of the catalog, which includes commercially successful albums such as Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication.
The transaction follows a separate sale five years earlier, when the band sold its music publishing catalog to Hipgnosis for between $140 million and $150 million. Sources said both the publishing assets and the recorded-music catalog were marketed by the law firm Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobster Younger & Light.
Warner Music Group declined to comment. Eric Greenspan, the lawyer who had been shopping the deal, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
