The Led Zeppelin News Email - 16/07/23
10% of Led Zeppelin is up for sale and Robert Plant will tour with Alison Krauss next year
Hello! Welcome to the 300th Led Zeppelin News email. We email out regular summaries of Led Zeppelin news so that you don't miss anything.
Thanks for all the positive feedback this week, and what a week it was! If you’d like to support our work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription, which costs $5 per month or $55 for a year. Paying subscribers get access to our email archive and occasional exclusive posts. We have some exciting upcoming coverage including stories based on previously unseen documents and exclusive interviews.
Led Zeppelin
Helen Grant wants to sell her 10% stake in Led Zeppelin
Helen Grant, the daughter of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant, is publicly seeking a buyer for her 10% stake in Led Zeppelin, she announced on Monday.
This might seem like a niche story but it’s a landmark deal that will usher in a new era of Led Zeppelin and will likely bring an outsider into ownership of a chunk of the band’s music for the first time.
Until now, the band’s business has always been controlled by the surviving band members, their families and their record label. Once Grant sells, other people will gradually begin to call the shots on what is (and isn’t) released.
This story broke at 12.01am on Monday morning when The Times published an interview with Grant in which she announced that she is selling her stake in the band. We spoke to Ian Penman, her lawyer, hours later for his first interview about the deal in which he explained why this sale is being publicly advertised.
For much of this week, the identity of what exactly is up for sale has been a mystery. But on Friday night we confirmed the assets being sold in this update for premium subscribers to this Substack and revealed that a second band’s music is on the table.
Can you tell your Superhypes from your Mythgems? If you’re not up to date on Led Zeppelin’s corporate empire (and to be honest, it’s completely understandable why you haven’t paid attention to this) we published a definitive guide to all the companies involved here.
News of the sale raises two major questions: How much is 10% of Led Zeppelin worth and who is going to buy it? Billboard published its analysis of the deal here and concluded that it’s likely worth between $6.7 million and $18 million.
As to who is going to buy this, we published our rundown for premium Substack subscribers here naming some prime suspects. Hours after we sent that update, Music Business Worldwide named Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group (thankfully one of the contenders we named) as being interested in Grant’s stake, something LedZepNews has also heard.
What happens next? We hear that Grant has given other interviews this week amid a flood of interest from the press including national newspapers and that we’re likely to see The Guardian publish an article in the coming weeks.
The tactic of going public with the deal seems to have worked. Penman, Grant’s lawyer, told LedZepNews later on this week that “we have been deluged with offers”.
As for the progress of the deal, it’s likely to be months until any sale is completed. Even if the winning bidder isn’t announced publicly, we’re likely to be able to identify them from business filings in the UK, so stay tuned for more information.
PS, here’s a mystery which could become very relevant: Who tried to sell a chunk of Swan Song last year? An anonymous seller wanted $525,000 for their equity in the US business but accepted an offer of $390,000. Clues in the listing point to this being someone connected to Peter Grant’s estate, but a source tells LedZepNews this wasn’t Helen Grant. Could it be her brother Warren Grant or someone else? Please get in touch if you have any leads!
Digital Led Zeppelin collectibles are coming this month
Digital collectibles app Quidd is launching a virtual Led Zeppelin “exhibition” on July 21, seemingly without the blessing or involvement of the band. From our research, it appears that the company has done a deal to turn some photos of the band belonging to London Features International into digital collectibles.
It remains to be seen whether this project goes ahead or if it falls victim to Led Zeppelin’s lawyers. The YouTube video announcing the project being titled “The Led Zeppelin Experience” is likely to raise eyebrows (the band trademarked that phrase as part of its abandoned exhibition project). And those eyebrows are likely to be raised even higher by the announcement that “Led Zeppelin comes to Quidd on July 21st, 2023.”
Glyn Johns discussed Led Zeppelin in a new podcast episode
Glyn Johns discussed his work with Led Zeppelin in a new episode of Rolling Stone's Music Now podcast.
Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page had lunch with Paul Stanley
This week’s sighting of Jimmy Page out and about in London involved him having lunch with KISS frontman Paul Stanley and photographer Ross Halfin on July 11.
You can see Stanley’s tweet showing him and Page here. Halfin posted a photograph on Instagram of them all together here.
Robert Plant
Robert Plant will tour with Alison Krauss next year
Robert Plant has confirmed that he will tour with Alison Krauss in 2024, extending their world tour to a third year.
Currently, it’s unclear where the pair will tour in 2024 but we can safely assume it will involve a US tour at the very minimum and likely European tour dates too.
Plant’s announcement confirms US venue Wolf Trap’s claim after Plant and Krauss’ June 29 show there was postponed that they would return during a Summer 2024 US tour.
New details on Robert Plant’s 1967 court appearance
Many Led Zeppelin fans will be familiar with photographs of a fresh-faced young Robert Plant appearing amongst protestors in 1967 when he appeared in court. For years, it has been claimed he was appearing in court to fight a drugs charge.
But the Shropshire Star has dug into the details around the court appearance and found that Plant actually appeared on a charge of careless driving after he got in a car accident.
Upcoming events:
2023 - The second Band Of Joy album titled "Band Of Joy Volume 2" will be released and an expanded edition of the Honeydrippers album "The Honeydrippers: Volume One" will be released.
July 21 - Quidd will launch its digital Led Zeppelin collectibles.
August 7 - “Squaring The Circle (The Story Of Hipgnosis)” which features interviews with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD.
August 24 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Portorož, Slovenia.
August 26 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy.
August 28 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Macerata, Italy.
August 30 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Taormina, Sicily, Italy.
September 1 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Locus Festival in Bari, Italy.
September 3 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Ostia, Italy.
September 5 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Milan, Italy.
September 6 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Vicenza in Festival in Vicenza, Italy.
September 9 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Ourense, Spain.
September 10 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Donostia / San Sebastián, Spain.
September 12 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Barcelona, Spain.
November 4 - Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Bert Jansch 80th birthday tribute concert in London, UK.
2024 - Robert Plant will tour with Alison Krauss.
Summer 2024 - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss will perform in Vienna, Virginia.
That was our 300th email. Have any questions or feedback? Reply to this email and we'll get back to you.
Follow Led Zeppelin News on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on news as it happens, and check ledzepnews.com for the latest news.