By Dylan Smith, Digital Music News | Another day, another high-profile song-rights play – this time in the punk arena, where Hopeless Records has acquired the Fat Wreck Chords catalog. LA-based Hopeless took to social media to provide an overview of the “landmark partnership” this morning, and a formal release was emailed to DMN shortly thereafter. The former source mainly highlights the long list of artists involved with the transaction.
Digging into the agreement’s actual terms, the tie-up technically includes San Francisco-headquartered Fat Wreck Chords itself – not just the Fat Mike- and Erin Kelly-Burkett-founded label’s music IP.
That said, the NOFX frontman Fat Mike – whose band announced its retirement last year – and Kelly-Burkett will retain the rights to Fat Wreck Chords’ name, logo, and trademarks, with an eye on “continuing to represent the label through festivals and pop-up shops,” the parties explained.
Another interesting component of the deal: All talent signed to Fat Wreck Chords will see their unrecouped balances zeroed out as part of the sale, the labels relayed.
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Go here to read more on this highly unusual deal:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/hopeless-records-acquires-fat-wreck-chords-catalog-all-unrecouped-balances-for-currently-signed-fat-artists-will-be-zeroed-out/
This story originally appeared on Digital Music News.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/07/09/fat-wreck-chords-sale/