Led Zeppelin has one of the most iconic catalogs in rock history. Now, a stake in it is up for sale.
Per The Times, a 10% stake in the Zeppelin catalog is up for sale by Helen Grant, the daughter of the band’s former manager Peter Grant.
While only a small percentage of the Zeppelin catalog, the stake has some interesting factors. New Media Law’s Ian Penman told Music Business Worldwide that Peter Grant had a 20% ownership stake in all of the band’s companies, too.
“So [the deal] is quite rare in that respect, because it includes trademarks,” notes Penman. “It includes the name. The name, Led Zeppelin, is owned by a company that Helen co-owns.”
Considering these details, it should be no surprise that Helen Grant has already fielded a number of offers on the 10% stake already. Among those offers, per Penman, is a bid from Iconic Artists Group, which legendary music manager/executive Irving Azoff co-founded in 2018. The roster for Iconic Artists Group includes The Beach Boys, David Crosby, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt and Stephen Stills.
Led Zeppelin: All 92 Songs Ranked
Led Zeppelin and their catalog as a whole have become more beloved and revered with time as they’ve been passed down through generations and become standards for which future bands are measured.
So, how do you honor one of the greatest, most influential bands of all time? Hunker down with a fifth of Jack Daniel’s, a 2-liter of Coke and dive headfirst into the “Zep-a-Thon.” Dubbed so by Jack Black when the band received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012, the “Zep-a-Thon” is a musical binge session where you listen to all of Zeppelin’s eight studio albums (plus the 1982 compilation album Coda) in one sitting. This binge wasn’t all for pleasure, even though it was oddly fulfilling. The purpose of doing this was for research in order to rank all 92 original Zeppelin tracks.
Exhausting? Yes. A bit much? Maybe, but crazier things have likely been committed in the name of Zeppelin throughout the past five decades.
Where do your favorite Zeppelin tracks rank? Click through the gallery below to find out!
Additional song descriptions by Brian Ives.