Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant Received Nearly $9 Million in Royalty Dividends Last Year, Financial Statements Show

Robert Plant performing live. Photo Credit: Raph_PH

Two companies tied to Robert Plant have disclosed making a cool £7 million (currently $8.8 million) in total royalty-dividend payments to the former Led Zeppelin frontman.Those payments, pertaining specifically to the fiscal year ended March 31st, 2024, came to light in Companies House filings. Per the publicly available documents, West Brom-born Plant incorporated the older of the entities, Trolcharm Limited, back in 1981.

Besides following Led Zeppelin’s 1980 breakup, that was shortly before the release of Plant’s debut solo album, Pictures at Eleven. Meanwhile, the veteran vocalist incorporated a second company, Sons of Einion Limited, in 1997.

According once again to public filings, Einion deals particularly in “sound recording and music publishing activities,” with Trolcharm focused on the more general “performing arts.” Both are majority-owned by Plant and count as directors the 76-year-old as well as members of his family.

Plus, both Einion and Trolcharm made the initially mentioned multimillion-dollar payments to Plant for the 12-month period, their annual reports show. That sum refers to “dividends” of £3 million/$3.75 million to the Rock Hall of Famer from Trolcharm and $5 million/£4 million from Einion, with both reports also confirming the absence of similar payments for the 2023 window.

In other words, it’s unclear precisely which period the dividends stemmed from. Keeping the focus on what we do know, however, the figure at hand is sizable and provides valuable context to recent years’ Led Zeppelin headlines.

(As highlighted, Plant’s body of work doesn’t solely include Zeppelin classics, but further encompasses commercially prominent solo releases such as 1988’s Now and Zen.)

Most immediately, this refers to the long-awaited Becoming Led Zeppelin documentary, which, following years of editing and fine-tuning, is slated to hit theaters in February. Capitalizing on still-strong fan support while simultaneously reaching new followers makes sense on multiple levels.

The total is significant as well when it comes to the Zeppelin catalog stake sold by Helen Grant, the daughter of famed manager Peter Grant. The elder Grant reportedly owned 20% of Zeppelin’s IP and split the asset between his two children upon passing in 1995.When we covered those early sale rumblings in July 2023, reports across the pond suggested that the transaction would feature masters and publishing alike. Per an update from Led Zeppelin News, though, the rights selloff didn’t encompass publishing and, despite a lack of core industry coverage, wrapped sometime last summer.

The buyer wasn’t publicly revealed, according to the same outlet, nor was a concrete price attached to the 10% interest. But LedZeppNews had previously pointed to a $10.6 million/£8.5 million offer for the IP in question.