‘7 Rings’ Is a Hit for Ariana Grande, and a Knockout for Rodgers and Hammerstein
The company that owns the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog cut an unusually lucrative deal with Ariana Grande over the rights to her single “7 Rings,” an extended reinterpretation of “My Favorite Things.”
This week, Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s singles chart for the sixth time
The song is credited to a total of 10 writers. But two of them — Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II — control 90 percent of the songwriting royalties
In an especially speedy turnaround, the deal for “7 Rings” was decided a few weeks before the song’s release in January, when representatives for Ms. Grande and her label, Republic, brought the completed song to Concord, the music company that has owned the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog since 2017. Concord requested 90 percent of Ms. Grande’s song, and her representatives accepted without further negotiation.
