David Coverdale’s Most Financially Successful Songs Revealed

David Coverdale’s most financially successful songs have been revealed as he sold his catalog, including Whitesnake and Deep Purple material, for an undisclosed sum.

He struck a deal with Round Hill Music, saying it meant his legacy was in “exceptionally safe hands”. It’s the latest in a string of similar acquisitions, which one industry watcher says have involved more than $5 billion in changing hands over the past year.

Coverdale’s songs ranked by revenue are: “Here I Go Again”, “Crying in the Rain”, “Fool for Your Loving”, “Is This Love”, “Still of the Night”, “Slow An’ Easy”, “Burn” and “Stormbringer”. The first six are Whitesnake tracks while the last two are Deep Purple releases.

“The Board of Directors is delighted to offer RHM shareholders access to David Coverdale’s legendary catalog of success as the frontman of one of the most recognizable rock bands of all time, which helped to define an era in music,” said chief executive Trevor Bowen. “We are excited to deploy capital into such high quality acquisitions while continuing to evaluate other attractive opportunities.”

The multi-billion dollar figure was delivered by Music Business Worldwide, which said: “[B]based on confirmed pricing and information from industry sources…at least $5.05 billion has been spent on catalog and music rights acquisitions in the more than 60 big-budget deals we have reported over the past year.

Nearly half of MBW’s estimated $5.05 billion total – some $2.33 billion – was spent on rights acquisitions directly from artists, songwriters and/or their estates. And the pace (and price) of these deals is accelerating: in December alone… deals worth at least $720 million were struck for artist and author catalog sales -composers. At least $500 million of that…came from the confirmed sale of Bruce Springsteen…the first time the half-billion dollar mark was crossed for an individual artist’s catalog.

Could there be a bigger single artist catalog deal in 2022? And could the massive total amount spent on catalogs in 2021 be exceeded this year? There is a good chance that it is.