IT'S been a big year for Silverchair fans. Australian Story and the book by Chis Joannou and Ben Gillies, Daniel Johns' cracking jokes about Newcastle real estate.
It's been a ride.
Now, the publishing rights to their favourite band's music has a new owner under a confidential agreement that have have speculated is a multi-million dollar deal.
A publishing deal shifts who receives royalties for uses of the songs on radio, television, online or in a public venue. Under the Johns deal, BMG will take a majority stake in those rights.
BMG announced on Tuesday that Johns had signed a "landmark" global publishing deal that includes the entire Silverchair catalogue.
The company, which released Daniel's FutureNever solo album that became ARIA's top selling new Australian album in 2022, will take control of his solo material immediately and the Silverchair stuff from 2025.
"There is nothing without a heartbeat that I value more than my songwriting catalogue," Johns said in a BMG statement.
"Bringing my life's work as a composer to BMG signifies the level of faith I have in this company and their people. From the podcast to the album, the exhibition and forthcoming featurette film, BMG have proven themselves to be the most ambitious and revolutionary music company in the game.
"From my compositions on Frogstomp to FutureNever and everything in between, my songs belong at BMG. I'm truly grateful to be in a position to sign the most important deal of my career with them".
The podcast that Johns refers to is the 2021 Who Is Daniel Johns?. BMG "conceptualised and executive produced" the Spotify series that featured a plethora of talent including The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, Blink 182's Tom DeLonge, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, actor Guy Pearce and Johns' former wife Natalie Imbruglia, who happened to play in Newcastle supporting The Corrs last night.
Johns' songbook will join BMG's publishing stable which also includes Wolfmother, Jet Crowded House, David Bowie, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash, Lewis Capaldi and more.
Publishing deals have been big business for a slate of musicians in recent years.
Katy Perry in September sold master recording royalties and music publishing rights to her first five albums for a reported $225 million.
Justin Bieber struck a similar deal "north of $200" million in January for his music recorded before 2022, while Bruce Springsteen secured a $500 million cheque after Sony won a bidding war for his catalogue in 2021.
The BMG deal has already extended a fair way beyond music for Johns.
Last year BMG also produced the Past, Present and FutureNever exhibition in Melbourne.
"Daniel is the most ARIA-awarded artist of all time, a Grammy and Emmy-winning composer, and has won the APRA Songwriter of the Year award a record three times," BMG Senior Creative Director Australia & New Zealand Jodie Feld said.
"He has written global hits for multiple projects across four decades, and with FutureNever he broke every ARIA sales record of 2022. Daniel is a true multi-talent and musical icon.
"It's an honour for the whole BMG team to expand our relationship with Daniel and to have the opportunity to work across not just a record, but a podcast, film, exhibition and now his iconic publishing catalogue."
Next year a film featuring Rasmus King as a young Daniel will release globally. The "grunge sci-fi featurette" What If The Future Never Happened? is slated for release in 2024.
"I'm still shocked at how many times I get tagged [on social media] by musicians all around the world playing these songs," Johns told The Australian on Tuesday.
"Music means I've never had to get a real job.
"And thank f..k for that, because I'm not good at anything else."
