Veteran Scottish rockers Simple Minds have sold much of their key music interests to BMG.
The agreement, which was struck by the band’s core co-founding members — singer Jim Kerr and guitarist/keyboardist Charlie Burchill — encompasses the publishing rights to over 240 songs, as well as the neighboring rights and royalties to the group’s entire catalog of recorded music.
Simple Minds already had a long relationship with BMG, which previously served as administrator of the band’s music publishing and released the group’s latest studio album, 2018’s Walk Between Worlds. Simple Minds’ recently announced next album, Direction of the Heart, also will be issued by the label on October 21.
Among the noteworthy songs that are part of the publishing deal are “Love Song,” “Promised You a Miracle,” “Glittering Prize,” “Waterfront,” “Someone Somewhere in Summertime” and “Alive and Kicking.” The group’s biggest U.S. hit, the chart-topping “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” was written by an outside songwriter, Keith Forsey, and therefore doesn’t fall under the publishing agreement, although recorded and neighboring rights royalties generated by the track will be collected by BMG.
“There are few bands who can claim to have changed music, but over a period of 45 years Simple Minds have done precisely that,” says BMG executive Alistair Norbury. “We are thrilled that BMG is now the musical home of Simple Minds, past, present and future.”
Adds Kerr, “We are very pleased to have struck this deal. It feels like the right time for us and our families. We look forward to working with everyone at BMG.”
Simple Minds recently returned to the road for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The band is currently in the middle of a lengthy European tour.
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