According to blabbermouth.net, Universal Music Group is trying to acquire rock band Queen’s catalog from Disney Music Group. CNN has mentioned that the sale could surpass $1 billion and that the deal is “expected to close within one month.”

According to Music Business Worldwide, Disney Music Group owns Queen’s recorded music catalog in North America. DMG has a global distribution agreement with Universal Music Group.

Queen band members Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, along with the estate of the band’s late singer Freddie Mercury reportedly each own equal shares in the company Queen Productions Ltd, who owns the band’s recording catalog outside the U.S. and Canada.

Recently, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks and Neil Young are some of the musicians who have sold off substantial rights to their music. Investors, major music companies and private equity firms have poured billions of dollars into buying song catalogs.

Also the investors believe that the rise of streaming and growing music revenues will make song rights acquisitions highly profitable in the long term as they can be exploited for up to 70 years after a musician’s death.

If Queen’s deal does happen, it will mark the biggest artist catalog sale in history following Springsteen’s $500 million sale of his masters and publishing to Sony in 2021.