The Offspring's Catalogue Sold For $35 Million & Didn't Even Include 'Smash'

Long-serving US punk outfit The Offspring mightn't be the counter-cultural force they once were, but they can still carry impressive clout if the recent sale of their music catalogue to New York upstart Round Hill Music for $US35 million (about $49.9 million) is anything to go by.

According to Billboard, the deal includes the band's Columbia Records master recording catalogue — which encompasses 1996's Ixnay On The Hombre onwards — as well as publishing rights spanning their whole career, even their earlier releases for renowned punk label Epitaph (which include the band's seminal 1994 breakthrough LP, Smash).

However, despite the heavy price tag and scope of Round Hill's purchase, Epitaph will nonetheless retain ultimate ownership of Smash — they've gotta keep it separated, sorry not sorryyyy — as well as its predecessor, 1992's Ignition. 

It's an understandable move from the label founded by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, considering that Smash's individual album sales — somewhere between 6 million and 7 million units — represent a disproportionate chunk of The Offspring's 17 million total album sales, with the Columbia contingent (Ixnay, Americana, Conspiracy Of One, Splinter, Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace and Days Go By, plus one greatest-hits compilation) making up the remaining 10 million sales or so. Indeed, Americana is the only of the band's albums to even approach Smash's success, having shifted 5 million units over its lifetime (aided by a handful of successful singles, spearheaded by Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)).

As Loudwire notes, the entire 17-million-sales-strong catalogue has reportedly yielded about $US3.1 million, making Round Hill's purchase price of $35 million just over 11 times more than its nominal value (they really wanted these albums, we suppose). And, regardless of any caveats or windfalls for Epitaph, both band and company appear optimistic about the potential of the deal, with frontman Dexter Holland telling Billboard, "We felt that having the right caretaker for our catalogue, both the masters and the publishing, is incredibly important to the future of our career."

"Round Hill understands that we are continuing to perform and record, and that the visibility of our past is critical to our future," he said.

Meanwhile, Roundhill chairman and chief executive Josh Gruss explained, "We have some masters like the Bush catalgoue and records from developing artists like London Souls and Nigel Hall, but we wanted more exposure and you won't get a more high-quality catalogue than The Offspring."

"Also, we didn't have some American punk rock in our publishing portfolio, and this acquisition helps broaden the genre representation."