翻點搖滾巨星大衛鮑伊的金融遺產

Just as he blazed a trail through the world of rock’n’roll, David Bowie gave financial markets something they had never seen before — pop bonds.

大衛貟伊(David Bowie)在搖滾世界突破創新的同時，也給金融市場留下了一個前所未有的事物——名人債券。

In 1997, the musician, whose death was announced yesterday, sold $55m of “Bowie Bonds”, securities backed by current and future revenues of the 25 albums he recorded before 1990.

鮑伊逝世的消息於昨日公佈。1997年這位音樂家售出了5500萬美元的“鮑伊債券”(Bowie Bonds)，其證券擔保是他1990年前錄製的25張唱片從今往後的收入。

Rather than receiving income from works such as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the bonds allowed Bowie to borrow more money up front. Investors received interest of 7.9 per cent for the 10-year bond.

鮑伊沒有從《傑基星塵和火星蜘蛛的盛衰》(The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars)等作品中直接獲得收入，而是利用債券提前籌到更多資金。投資者從這隻10年期債券獲得7.9%的利息。

Mark Bezant, an intellectual property expert at consulting group FTI, said: “It only worked for a small number of artists who had retained the relevant rights. That was the key.”

諮詢公司FTI的知識產權專家馬克貝贊特(Mark Bezant)表示：“只有一小部分藝術家能這麼做，因爲他們保有相關權利，這是關鍵。”

The issue was masterminded by banker David Pullman, a US financier who carved out a niche securitising stars’ back catalogues, including those of James Brown and Marvin Gaye.

該項目是由銀行家戴維渠爾曼(David Pullman)策劃的。這位美國金融家一手打造了對歌星的舊曲——包括詹姆斯布朗(James Brown)和馬文蓋伊(Marvin Gaye)的舊曲——進行證券化的縫隙業務。

But the rise of online music sharing blew a hole in copyright legislation and Bowie Bonds plunged. In 2004, Moody’s cut their rating to BBB+, one notch above junk status. Mr Bezant said it was now “harder for people to pull in income streams in a way they did when they were first invented”.

但是，在線音樂共享的崛起破壞了版權立法，鮑伊債券驟然暴跌。2004年，穆迪(Moody's)將其評級下調至BBB+，僅比垃圾級高一級。貝贊特表示，如今“更難像這些債券剛剛被髮明時那樣獲得收入流”。

The early success of Bowie Bonds was a factor underpinning Guy Hands’ 2007 bid for EMI. The private equity mogul, who had achieved success securitising pub and motorway service area returns, believed that EMI’s vast back catalogue was ripe for the Bowie Bond treatment. The following year, with the collapse of credit markets, he abandoned the idea after being unable to spread the risk of the 4.2bn takeover.

鮑伊債券早期的成功增強了葛涵思(Guy Hands) 2007年競購音樂公司百代(EMI)的信心。這位曾經成功將酒吧及高速公路服務區回報證券化的私人股本大亨相信，百代龐大的舊曲目錄應該得到類似於“鮑伊債券”的對待。次年，隨着信貸市場的崩潰，由於無法分散這筆42億英鎊收購的風險，他放棄了這一想法。