Elton John signs with Universal 'for the rest of his career'

LONDON (Reuters) - Elton John has signed a deal with Universal Music Group for his back catalogue and any new work as well as brand management, merchandising and licensing rights, the company said on Friday.

Under the agreement signed with John’s company Rocket Entertainment, Universal Music Group (UMG) will represent the veteran British singer’s new music “for the rest of his career” on top of his work from the last 50 years.

“The multi-faceted agreement marks the beginning of a new era of expanded collaboration between Elton John and UMG and significantly expands their global business partnership,” the company said in a statement.

The agreement covers publishing rights to John’s “iconic song writing catalogue to be administrated by Universal Music Publishing Group long into the future”.

The group’s brand-management company Bravado will work with Rocket on merchandising, branding and retail licensing around the singer’s three-year final world tour, “Farewell Yellow Brick Road”.


No financial details of the deal were given.

The 71-year-old kicked off the tour in the United States this month. John, who has two children with husband David Furnish, has said he wanted to stop traveling to focus on family life.