Courtney Love May Be Bad For Nirvana's Business

Wonderwall, Friday, March 20, 2009, 9:05am (PDT)

What's wrong with Nirvana's business? According to the April issue of Portfolio Magazine, ever since Courtney Love sold licensing rights for the band's catalog, interested buyers have been few and far between.

Three years ago, Love claimed to have just $4,000 in her bank account and said she might have to apply for food stamps. Instead, she cashed in on her rights to the song catalog of her deceased husband, Nirvana frontman/icon Kurt Cobain. In the deal, Love sold a 50 percent interest in Cobain's music-publishing rights for an alleged $50 million, which ticked off his fans. The grunge hero's devotees were disgusted that Love would use the music to promote the kinds of commercial interests he was so against prior to his 1994 suicide.

But before Nirvana fans set out on a new Courtney Love witch hunt, experts concede that the main reason sales have been low is that Nirvana's music is just less commercial than other pop and rock acts, like, say the Jonas Brothers. (They've made a cool million on song licenses sold in 2008, while Nirvana's only made $480K.)

Shocker! Moody, angsty songs and lyrics don't sell fabric softener all that well. Flannel may be back in fashion, but grunge-era music has a ways to go before it's "retro cool" again.

To her merit, Love is working on projects to keep the Cobain name alive. She's currently an executive producer on an upcoming Cobain biopic ("Heavier Than Heaven"). Rumor has it Ewan McGregor may play Cobain ... but if Jared Leto starts dating Courtney, we'll all know why.

Regardless, Love and her daughter, Frances Bean, have put their food stamp anxiety behind them. The pair were recently caught checking out a $6.5 million penthouse in New York, and we're pretty sure it was slightly bigger than the average Manhattan heart shaped box.

Check out these related Portfolio Magazine links:

Michael Jacksons Glove Collection For Sale

Lou Pearlman Promotes Band from Jail