Neil Finn signs with Mushroom Group’s Good Neighbour Rights

Neil Finn has struck a global deal with Good Neighbour Rights, Mushroom Group’s neighbouring rights agency.

Announced today (Feb. 9), the Auckland-based Crowded House frontman and Split Enz co-founder joins a roster of clients at Good Neighbour that includes Vance Joy, Zedd, Cold War Kids, Shungudzo, Split Enz, Tom Meighan (Kasabian), and Finn’s brother Tim (Split Enz) and son Liam (Betchadupa, ‎Crowded House‎).

Mushroom Group’s late founder and chairman Michael Gudinski launched Good Neighbour in 2019, through an alliance with Susan Cotchin, a royalties collection expert with experience on both sides of the globe.

Through the new arrangement, Good Neighbour will represent Finn’s goldmine of songs from across his career.

“To be given the opportunity to work with music royalty, truly is a dream. Working on a catalogue of hits like ‘Message To My Girl’, ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’, ‘Better Be Home Soon’, is a privilege we don’t take for granted,” Says Cotchin in a statement, “but moreover, the signing of Neil Finn has affirmed to me that great artists will come to performer focused companies, who genuinely care and are dedicated not only to an artists recording career, but to the whole artists ethos.”

Cotchin, a pioneer in neighbouring rights, the performance right in sound recordings which are paid out to performers and master owners, in May 2003 launched her own specialist company, International Royalties Rescue (IRR).

Finn has a long history with Gudinski, who passed away last March, aged 68.

Gudinski “was a powerhouse obviously and a one-off,” Finn told this reporter in 2021. “He was always a presence and would always be there, and did tours with us. Australia, the world, has changed a bit forever in his passing.”

Since its formation from the embers of Split Enz, Crowded House has gone on to sell more than 10 million albums, set chart records in Australia and land a No. 1 album in the U.K.

The neighbouring rights arrangement is signed ahead of Crowded House’s worldwide tour in support of 2021’s Dreamers Are Waiting, which debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart, No. 6 on the Official U.K. Chart, and won Best Adult Contemporary Album at the 2021 ARIA Awards.

The 13-time ARIA Award-winning folk-rock outfit’s domestic tour is produced by Live Nation, and kicks off April 1 at Perth’s Kings Park and Botanical Garden.