MusicBird has acquired the music catalogue of songwriter, recording artist and producer Midge Ure.
The music rights investment company has acquired the writer’s share, master recording and neighbouring rights income on over 300 songs across Midge Ure’s solo career and his work with Ultravox, Visage and more. Universal Music Publishing Group continues to represent the publishing across most of the catalogue.
Ure enjoyed huge success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids, Visage and as the lead singer of Ultravox. He produced, co-wrote and performed on several synth-pop and new wave classics such as Fade To Grey by Visage, the Ultravox hits Vienna and Dancing With Tears In My Eyes and his UK No 1 hit If I Was, taken from his Top 10 album The Gift.
Together with Bob Geldof, Midge co-wrote and produced the Band Aid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, which sold over 12 million copies worldwide and ranks as the second-highest selling single in UK chart history (as a charity single this was not part of the MusicBird acquisition).
Midge Ure said: “It is a significant moment for me as an artist and songwriter to see my songs find a new home at MusicBird with people who are genuinely passionate about music. I think this team will take the songs to new audiences and I am excited to be working with them on that!”
This team will take the songs to new audiences
Midge Ure
Paul Brown, CEO of MusicBird, said: “This is an important deal for MusicBird. Midge has written some genuinely timeless hits that were ground-breaking, helping to define the 1980s new wave sound and literally paving the way for those that came after. We are hugely excited to become the custodian of these incredible songs and we are humbled that Midge has entrusted these precious pieces of art to the MusicBird team.”
MusicBird’s current catalogue portfolio includes the publishing rights of JR Rotem (including hits by Rihanna, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy, Iyaz and Sean Kingston) and the master income and publishing rights of Shaggy (including It Wasn’t Me, Angel and Boombastic).
The company entered the music acquisition space in 2021 with a focus on hits from a diverse range of genres and geographies.
Last month, MusicBird announced a major milestone $100 million loan facility deal with MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group) to power its growth and fund further music rights deals.
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