Peter Frampton Catalog Sold to BMG
The deal includes the entirety of the iconic singer-guitarist's work, dating back to the late 1960s.
BMG has acquired the catalog of Peter Frampton, the company announced today (Dec. 7). The deal includes his publishing, songwriter, artist and session work revenue streams, as well as his neighboring rights, for the entirety of his career, including massive hits like “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Show Me the Way,” as well as his work with Humble Pie. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The influential English rock guitarist and singer first signed to A&M Records in the early 1970s at the age of 19, with the label’s co-founder, Jerry Moss, later commenting that “he had a cool face, he didn’t mind working, and he had a great attitude.” He added, “I thought he was a star.” While his work as lead guitarist for Humble Pie gained him early popularity, his solo career under A&M was off to a fairly slow start. His first few records as Peter Frampton, while critically acclaimed, were far from recouping the amount A&M had already invested in him.
But his career rapidly turned around with the release of the live album Frampton Comes Alive! which climbed to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for ten weeks in 1976. For the entirety of that year, the surprise hit record continued to stick to the top 10 of that chart. While the label anticipated the record might go gold if they were lucky, Frampton Comes Alive! surprised execs by ultimately hitting eight times platinum. Nearly 50 years later, its lauded as one of the greatest rock records of all time and cemented Frampton’s talk box-effected guitar playing as his signature.
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It was the rebirth of a fruitful career for Frampton, who would work with a slew of other legendary rock stars during his career, including Ringo Starr, John Entwistle, David Bowie, Pearl Jam, and others. He continued to release albums — spanning rock, pop and blues — to critical and commercial success as recently as 2019 with the release of All Blues.
In addition to his career as a musician, Frampton has also appeared as himself in television shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy and Madam Secretary.
In a statement, Frampton said he was “pleased to join the BMG family. As an artist-first company, I trust BMG will care for my legacy and that my songs are in good hands.”
It’s the latest acquisition deal for BMG, which has also picked up the rights to catalogs of Harry Nilsson, Jean-Michel Jarre, John Lee Hooker and John Legend (in partnership with KKR) in the past year. This deal extends as far back to works by Frampton’s first band, The Herd, and includes his latest album, 2019’s All Blues.
“From his incredible early rise of success to Humble Pie, his countless collaborations to achieving global stardom as a solo artist, Peter Frampton is one of the most inspirational and tireless musicians of his time,” BMG’s president repertoire & marketing for New York and Los Angeles Thomas Scherer said in a statement. “We are proud a legendary artist of his caliber entrusts BMG as the custodians of his most treasured works. A revered musical catalog of this magnitude, paid tribute to by countless artists, will continue to live on for generations.”
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