With Led Zeppelin silent on social media for more than a year, the band publicly ignoring the release of an authorised feature-length documentary film and the group’s work on an official exhibition abandoned, it’s time to ask an important question: What’s going on with Led Zeppelin?
All signs point to an inability of the members of Led Zeppelin to agree on and launch any new projects since 2019, a stark contrast to other legacy musical acts like The Beatles that have continued to release unheard material and to participate in new projects.
2018 seems to be the last year that Led Zeppelin was capable of agreeing on anything. That year saw a wave of products released to mark the band’s fiftieth anniversary, including a new book, previously unheard mixes released on vinyl for Record Store Day and a remastered release of the soundtrack for The Song Remains the Same.
2018 was also the year when work on “Becoming Led Zeppelin” began and when the band members seemingly sat for hours of interviews for the product ahead of its announcement the following year.
But no new Led Zeppelin-owned projects have been successfully launched since 2018, raising questions about what has caused a lack of action within Led Zeppelin.
The only new project announced by the band since 2019 was a seven-inch vinyl single of “Immigrant Song” that was announced in October 2020 before being cancelled without explanation in January 2021 a day before it was due to be released.
Led Zeppelin’s exhibition project has been abandoned
LedZepNews has reported extensively on company filings and trademark applications that reveal Led Zeppelin began working in 2017 on a project likely called “The Led Zeppelin Experience” that was seemingly an official exhibition about the band, potentially with a hologram component.
Momentum on that project continued in 2018 with the formation of a company in the UK to manage it with shares split equally between the three surviving band members and Pat Bonham.
That project seems to have been abandoned by 2022 and the US trademark for it left to expire, with Led Zeppelin’s lawyers failing to file paperwork by a January 29 deadline. Led Zeppelin now has a six-month grace period for the overdue paperwork before the trademark is permanently cancelled.
Jimmy Page made comments in 2022 which provide evidence for the theory that the official exhibition was already abandoned by that point. Speaking to Uncut Magazine for an interview published in its May 2022 issue, Page confirmed that Led Zeppelin had planned its own exhibition. “There was something at one point,” he said. “But all the members and people around the band couldn’t agree.”
Page also confirmed that Led Zeppelin had been approached about a potential hologram of the band. Led Zeppelin was asked to do “that sort of thing”, he said on stage at the Hay Festival in Wales in June 2022. However, he explained that the surviving band members couldn’t agree about the project so it “didn’t really get moving”.
Led Zeppelin snubbed the release of ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’
The May 2019 announcement of “Becoming Led Zeppelin”, by that point already in post production with the new interviews already filmed, involved all three surviving members of Led Zeppelin issuing supportive statements for a press release.
But in subsequent years, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones stopped promoting the film. Only Page showed up to the film’s 2021 festival premiere in Venice, despite a desire by the filmmakers for all three surviving members of the band to attend.
By December 2024 when the film’s release was announced, Led Zeppelin’s website and social media channels ignored the news entirely. No band members attended the film’s January 27 premiere in Hollywood.
Led Zeppelin’s public silence
Led Zeppelin’s social media silence has lasted since September 2023, when the band shared the news that it had agreed to reissue Led Zeppelin’s fourth album on clear vinyl. This was a glimmer of activity from the band, but this project was designed and run by Atlantic Records to celebrate the label’s 75th anniversary.
The group’s official website and social media channels remained silent throughout the entirety of 2024, the first year of public inactivity by the band since 2004, a LedZepNews analysis found.
Jimmy Page never released the unheard music he teased publicly
A review of interviews with Page shows that his public optimism about releasing archival Led Zeppelin material faded in 2018 as the band’s fiftieth anniversary came and went and Page’s four-year album remasters project concluded.
In 2017, Page hinted that recordings would be released in 2018. “There’ll be Led Zeppelin product coming out, for sure, that people haven’t heard,” he told the Academy of Achievement, “because I’m working on that. Next year will be the fiftieth year so there’s all manner of surprises coming out.”
In February 2018, he told Planet Rock Magazine that “there’s a recording that’s another multi-track that we’ll release. It’s so different to all the other things that are out there. It’s another view compared to How The West Was Won or The Song Remains The Same. I’m looking forward to people hearing that.”
In that interview, Page also said he planned to continue releasing Led Zeppelin material over the next 10 years. “There’s a lot of stuff to come out, a number of releases,” he said. “I’d like to say that they’ll be coming out over the next 10 years. There’s more to come for sure.”
Page again mentioned plans for Led Zeppelin releases in an interview with Sirius XM that was broadcast in December 2018. By that point, it sounded like the plans were more uncertain.
“I’ve always got things in mind and I always think of things as a sort of schedule of releases over a period of time. I’ve never been, actually, any different. And, obviously, I would have ideas of things or projects which could go ahead, but, you know, it all takes time,” he said. “Who knows what may come further on down the line? I’ll leave it … I don’t know. So I can’t really say at this point,” he added.
By 2022, Page seemed resigned to accepting that no Led Zeppelin archival material was on the way. “Obviously, there is source material that could come out – but it seems the band don’t all agree so there’s no point,” he told Uncut Magazine for its May 2022 issue.
In March 2023, Page took matters into his own hands, releasing a demo version of “The Rain Song” through his own website and social media channels to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Houses of the Holy. Led Zeppelin’s social media channels also celebrated that album’s anniversary but declined to share Page’s demo.
Is Robert Plant to blame?
Page has spoken in multiple interviews about a lack of agreement between the members of Led Zeppelin that has blocked projects like the band’s exhibition, a hologram and the release of archival music.
However, Page has stopped short of blaming specific band members for the disagreements. His friend, photographer Ross Halfin, has given more context about the inner working of Led Zeppelin, however.
During an episode of The Vinyl Guide podcast released in August 2021, Halfin was asked why Led Zeppelin hasn’t released more live material.
“It has to be agreed by all of them. It’s the same as Pink Floyd, it’s a band agreement and you’ve got certain band members that think it interferes in their solo career,” Halfin said in the podcast.
Those comments appear to point the finger of blame directly at Plant, whose solo career has thrived in recent years with multiple solo albums and tours compared to Jones’ various one-off live performances. Jones even told Mojo Magazine in its December 2018 issue that he “can’t be arsed” to record a new solo album.
Halfin’s opinions on Plant were made clear in a 2005 interview with Halfin published by The Scotsman that has since been deleted. “He’s one of life’s great disappointments as a human being,” Halfin said of Plant in the interview. “Let’s put it this way: he’s a ten as a rock star but he’s a zero as a human being.”
How about Jimmy Page?
During the same 2021 podcast interview, Halfin also made comments that could explain why Page is unwilling to sign off on Led Zeppelin releases.
“I think there is other stuff, I’m sure Jimmy has in his archive,” Halfin said. “Also I respect his viewpoint [which] is that … ‘why didn’t you put out these photos?’ ‘Because I don’t want to.’ If he doesn’t want to, you should respect his wish. It’s his music. He made the music. So Led Zeppelin was Jimmy Page’s band and if he doesn’t want to release it then you have to respect that, it’s his choice.”
Page is, by all accounts, an active custodian of Led Zeppelin’s legacy and archives. He refused all attempts before “Becoming Led Zeppelin” to work on a documentary about Led Zeppelin with the band’s participation, he said during a 2021 press conference in Venice.
Previous documentary requests “were pretty miserable. Yes, miserable and also to the point where they would want to be concentrating on anything but the music,” Page said.
Page is also understood to have blocked attempts to make a Led Zeppelin-themed Guitar Hero game because of concerns around granting outsiders access to the band’s master tapes, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008. “It ain’t about the money,” said Peter Mensch, Page’s manager at the time.
Could John Paul Jones be to blame?
Jones is often thought to take a neutral position on Led Zeppelin matters, but it’s possible that the assumptions around Plant blocking releases may have overlooked resistance by Jones to these plans. Like Plant, Jones stopped promoting “Becoming Led Zeppelin” following its 2019 announcement.
An overlooked company filing in the UK may provide some evidence of Jones’ desire to distance himself from Led Zeppelin matters. In November 2021, Jones stepped down as a director of Superhype Tapes, the UK company set up in 1968 to manage Led Zeppelin’s career. The business is now a key publishing vehicle that also owns the trademarks for the Led Zeppelin brand.
Page owns 80% of the company, with Peter Grant’s two children Helen and Warren Grant each owning 10%. Plant may not own any shares in the business, but he remains a director of the company along with Page.
But in November 2021, Jones severed his link to this key Led Zeppelin company. This decision followed efforts by Jones to install independent accountants inside his businesses, replacing the accountants used by Led Zeppelin for decades.
Jones’ position as a director of Superhype Tapes was vital when Led Zeppelin’s lawyers fought to obtain the US trademark for “The Led Zeppelin Experience” in 2018.
Joan Hudson, Led Zeppelin’s veteran accountant who has since stepped back from helping run the group’s businesses, wrote in a 2018 letter to the US government that Page, Jones and Plant “are Applicant’s Directors and control its activities”, referring to Superhype Tapes.
Led Zeppelin’s lawyers pointed to this fact as evidence of “unity of control” over the Led Zeppelin trademark, Superhype Tapes and the application to trademark “The Led Zeppelin Experience” in a separate 2018 letter. The US government was so convinced by this argument that it immediately retracted its concerns over the trademark application.
Jones’ decision to resign as a director of Superhype Tapes in November 2021 means this “unity of control” is arguably no longer present, a potential barrier to Led Zeppelin applying for and retaining trademarks in the future.
What comes next for Led Zeppelin?
It remains to be seen whether the members of Led Zeppelin can overcome their disagreements to launch any new projects or agree on releasing archival material.
The fiftieth anniversary of the release of Physical Graffiti will take place in February, a potential window for the band to re-emerge on social media and for Page to share demo recordings, as he did for the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Houses of the Holy.
LedZepNews understands that there are ongoing band meetings involving the surviving band members, a sign that any disagreements over the band’s future are not so fundamental that they no longer talk.
“I’ve seen a lot more of Jimmy lately,” Plant said in an interview published in the December 2021 issue of Mojo Magazine. “We recently saw a friend of ours who’s not doing so well, and it’s like we were the brotherhood again. I’m looking for more events like that.”
Despite the continued contact between band members, it seems unlikely that any archival material is on the way. This situation is being closely watched by music industry investors who have taken renewed interest in the value of Led Zeppelin’s catalogue and the band’s archives following Helen Grant’s decision to publicly sell her 10% stake in Led Zeppelin royalties.
As part of our reporting on Grant’s deal to sell her stake, which hasn’t yet closed and was potentially worth £8.5 million, LedZepNews spoke to three music investors who had been involved in talks to acquire a chunk of Led Zeppelin royalties.
Investors felt that the continued band dysfunction inside Led Zeppelin was a problem as they considered the possibility of future increases in Led Zeppelin royalties. When they buy full or partial music catalogues, they’re gambling on a rise in interest in an artist. If the band members can’t agree on releasing or promoting material, a stake in Led Zeppelin looks like a poor deal.
However, the constantly feuding members of Pink Floyd selling their catalogue to Sony Music for $400 million last year is perhaps a sign that there could still be life or at least value in Led Zeppelin despite the band disagreements.
It’s possible that Led Zeppelin’s relative silence from 2019 onwards is merely a quiet period for the band that could end with a future archival release. After all, as Jones said during a press conference in London in September 2012: “Five years is five minutes in Zeppelin time.”
they should do what pink floyd have done and sell there catalogue two someone like sony music at this point in there lives careers what they got lose plant and jones are in there late 70s page is 81 they cant agree on anything so call it a day other than that page jones plant please GROW UP
Tragic, all of us are getting older. You would think that Jimmy would want to let the world share while he is still with us.
Sad to see it all come down to nothing…
Kind of shatters the fantasy of how music should be about the love of the craft. Not the children and multi generational descendants of the artists getting their piece of the action. The dream is over. Money always wins .
Jimmy hasn’t done much these last 40 years. Sad.
As a long time huge fan of Led Zeppelin, I completely understand everyone’s point of view. Zep was Page’s baby and he will forever be Led Zeppelin. Jones doesn’t care one way or another… he’s living his best life with his family in his silver years. Plant has moved on to new horizons with solo career and that was then, this is now attitude. You also have to respect that Bonham was his best friend and Zep is not Zep without Bonzo…period! We as fans have to respect and appreciate each band members choices. It is and will forever be theirs to decide whatever they wish. They are thee Greatest Rock Band of all time and let’s just appreciate anything they chose to let us enjoy!!! Peace to everyone! Bonzo, RIP brother.
I’m watching Becoming Led Zeppelin when it premieres I think I’ll invite Page Plant and Jones to see it with me. I ll take care of the popcorn if it get them together 😁.
Please, leave these gentlemen along. Maybe they are in pain. Don’t get me wrong, Led Zeppelin rules. Besides, maybe they do stuff but it does not include us. However, they will always be welcome in Humboldt County California cuz we need Rock shows