Deftones Sells Major Catalog Share to Warner Music

Deftones sold most of their music rights to Warner Music Group in a transaction that closed within the past two years. The package covered master-recording royalties, co-publishing stakes, and writer royalties.

Warner Music Group held the band's master recordings before this transaction, while Warner Chappell controlled the co-publisher rights. One member kept his publishing stake and will still collect master-recording royalties.

No exact price has been disclosed. Billboard pegged the transaction somewhere between $41 million and $75 million, depending on timing and other variables.

Sources told Billboard the California band sought a "mid- to high-double-digit multiple" for the rights. Music assets trade in a 12- to 18-times-multiple range. Superstar artists and songwriters sometimes command multiples of over 20.

The band's popularity growth during the three years of 2023-2025 hit roughly three times that of the previous three-year period, Billboard reports. Albums released before 2016 posted the most striking gains during recent years, with Around the Fur (1997) and White Pony (2000) leading.

Billboard estimates the catalog pulled in about $18 million per year during 2023 through 2025. At a 25% royalty rate split among all five members, that works out to $3.6 million per year for the four selling members.

The back catalog experienced a viral rebirth on TikTok, as a new generation discovered the group. That renewed interest pushed the band to arena-headliner status and drove consistent chart returns.

Last July, several releases from the discography earned platinum and gold certifications in the United States. This past December saw Around The Fur climb to No. 3 on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart.

"We literally are bigger than we've ever been in our almost 30-year existence," frontman Chino Moreno said in August 2025, according to The PRP.