Nat King Cole Is The Latest Dead Legend To Find Fortune In The Rush For Music Rights

Among the growing number of music icons who have cashed their talent in for massive sums in the past three years, Nat King Cole has gone virtually unnoticed. The vaunted jazz musician and classic Christmas crooner is best known for “Unforgettable,” “When I Fall In Love,” and “L-O-V-E,” and has been a fixture of holiday playlists for more than six decades.

Last week, Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group announced that it had acquired Cole’s music publishing rights, name and likeness, television shows, and the royalties his estate receives on his recordings. The news was quickly followed by Universal Music Group announcing today that it was releasing five Cole songs previously unavailable on digital, following its purchase of 200 recordings by the jazz great last year, a deal that was previously unreported. Terms of Azoff’s deal with the estate were not disclosed, while sources close to Universal’s purchase put the cost of that deal between $10 million and $20 million.

Universal’s acquisition puts all of Cole’s catalog of some 400 recorded songs in the hands of the world’s largest music company, whose roster includes the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Kanye West. The 200 newer Cole songs were recorded between 1961 and 1964 and were held by the singer’s estate thanks to a deal he negotiated with Capitol Records, a label now owned by UMG, after he had achieved commercial success.

The deal comes as investors and music companies scramble to grab hold of the world’s most popular songs, bidding up for both master recording and music publishing rights. Big sales include Bob Dylan ($550 million) , Paul Simon ($250 million), and Bruce Springsteen (over $500 million.) More recently, Sting’s catalog went for as much as a reported $300 million.

With their hands on different parts of his creative output, Iconic and Universal are now looking to introduce new generations to his music and performances. Universal released two Cole projects over the past year; an album of his classic Christmas songs featuring duets from current artists including John Legend and Kristin Chenoweth, along with today’s release.

“Within UMG he’s one of the two largest streamers of holiday music in the entire company,” says Bruce Resnikoff, president and chief executive of Universal Music Enterprises. Cole, he added, “effectively dominates the holiday season,” with Spotify data showing that the catalog has garnered hundreds of millions of streams since the debut of the service. His six-time platinum single “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)” has been streamed more than 300 million times, compared to Mariah Carey’s 1.2 billion streams for “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” the ubiquitous GOAT of Yuletide tunes.

Cole, a Black jazz pianist, singer and actor, was first signed to Capitol in 1943. His debut, The King Cole Trio, came out in 1945 and topped Billboard’s first ever albums chart. The instantly recognizable Capitol Records building in Los Angeles is credited as being “The House That Nat Built” due to the financial success Cole brought to the label. He also made history as the first Black artist to host a network TV show on NBC.

During his career he released six platinum albums and two gold albums, and the six-time platinum “The Christmas Song.” He won two Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe special achievement award, as well as posthumous honors from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He died in 1965, at age 45, due to lung cancer.