Mick Jagger is considering leaving a portion of his Rolling Stones catalog to charity. Though Jagger isn’t ready to sell his share of the band’s catalog any time soon, he said the money linked to his music wouldn’t impact his family.
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“The children don’t need $500 million to live well, come on,” said Jagger in a recent interview. He added that giving it to charity would “maybe do some good in the world.”
Jagger, who turned 80 in July, still retains his portion of the band’s post-1971 music catalog. The band’s former accountant, Allen Klein, who died in 2009, secured the copyrights to the Stones’ earlier discography when they parted ways with him in 1970. Klein’s company, ABKCO Music & Records, still owns the rights to some of the Rolling Stones’ biggest hits including “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Paint It Black,” and “Ruby Tuesday,” among many others released before ’71.
“I don’t actually really like business, you know what I mean?” added Jagger. “Some people just love it. I just have to do it. Because if you don’t do it, you get fucked.”
He also drew parallels between what happened to the band and Klein and Taylor Swift’s previous loss of her masters after Scouter Braun acquired her first six albums after purchasing her old label Big Machine Records. Swift has since been rereleaseing each of her first six albums as Taylor’s Version.
[RELATED: 6 Things The Rolling Stones Revealed About New Album ‘Hackney Diamonds’]
“The industry was so nascent [back then], it didn’t have the support and the amount of people that are on tap to be able to advise you as they do now,” said Jagger. “But you know, it still happens. I mean, look what happened to Taylor Swift. I don’t really know the ins and outs of it, but she obviously wasn’t happy.”
In 2021, Keith Richards said the Stones weren’t ready to sell their music catalog and added that it’s usually a sign of “getting old.”
“Mick [Jagger] and I have not spoken about it on a serious level,” said Richards, 79, of the possibility of selling the band’s catalog of music. “I don’t know if we’re ready to sell our catalog. We might drag it out a bit—put more stuff on it. You only think about selling your catalog… it’s a sign of getting old.”
The band recently revealed their 24th album Hackney Diamonds, out October 20. The 12-track album is the Rolling Stones’ first new material in 18 years since the release of A Bigger Band. It’s also their first album without drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021.
Watts also appears on the songs, “Live By The Sword” and “Mess It Up,” which he recorded with the band in 2019. The album also features other special guests including former bassist Bill Wyman, Lady Gaga, and Stevie Wonder.
“We wouldn’t have put this album out if we hadn’t really liked it,” said Jagger of Hackney Diamonds. “We didn’t want to make just any record and put it out. We wanted to make records before we went in and we also got to make a record that we really love ourselves. Other people may like it, other people may not, but we must say that we are quite pleased with it. I’m not saying we’re big-headed about it, but we’re pleased with it, so we hope you all like it.”
Photo: David Wolff-Patrick/Redferns
