Kurt Cobain might be regarded as a music icon amongst rock fans, but it seems his suicide killed his career too as few advertisers and Hollywood studio executives want to pay to use it in commercials and TV shows.
Kurt Cobain
Although we’re pretty sure that Kurt wasn’t writing songs in the hope that they’d be the theme for the latest coca-cola advert, a company called Primary Wave Music Publishing bought a 50 per cent stake in Cobain's catalogue from his widow Courtney Love in 2006 - for a reported $50 million (£35.7 million) - but bosses have had little luck making their investment pay off.
Business website Portfolio.com reports plans to place Cobain's Nirvana songs in TV commercials, video games, ad campaigns and movies have backfired, and, as the 15th anniversary of the rock star's death approaches, Primary Wave chiefs have earned just over $2 million (£1.4 million) on their investment.
A source tells the website that one deal to license a number of Nirvana songs to TV bosses at CBS for an episode of CSI: Miami fell through when Love, Primary Wave bosses and Cobain's former bandmates asked for "twice the industry standard" in licensing fees.
Cobain committed suicide at his home in Seattle, Washington on 8 April, 1994.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison