Moody's reviews Bowie's bond rating:

Moody's Investors Service says it may downgrade about $55 million of bonds backed by music royalties of rock music icon David Bowie in light of the sales slump in the recording industry.

In 1997, Bowie was the first musician to sell bonds supported by future revenues generated from his record master and publishing rights. The sale of these asset-backed securities to private investors raised $55 million upfront for the British rocker.

Since the Bowie deal, musicians and songwriters like James Brown and the Isley Brothers issued similar bonds backed by expected future revenues from their music catalogs.

"The rating review was prompted by lower than expected revenues generated by the assets due to weakness in sales for recorded music as well as the recent downgrade of an entity that provides credit support to the transaction," the bond rating agency said late Friday. [Reuters]

I can just picture David, James and the Isleys chatting animatedly on the niceties of bond ratings over tea and crumpets and amphetamines - gotta keep the production up and Moody's happy.

I guess no financial instrument looked foolish in the high-flying '90s