We Will Rock You

It’s a morbid concept, but dying can be a pretty solid way for an artist to give their career a proverbial shot in the arm. As PopEater points out, dead musicians are raking in the big bucks these days, exemplified by the recent death of Michael Jackson and the rampant buying of his back catalog.

As far as rock ‘n’ rollers go, it’s been difficult to top Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, whose estate managed to rake in $50 million dollars in 2006 alone. Alongside licensing deals that have kept Nirvana’s music in the limelight, another solid way to build revenue is by reissuing some of the back catalog or releasing out a rare live recording. Both of those will happen next month for Nirvana, as Sub Pop will reissue the band’s first album, ‘Bleach,’ as a 20th anniversary expanded edition and their performance from the 1992 Reading Festival, which has made the rounds in bootleg circles for years, will finally get a proper release on CD and DVD.