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The strongest later account says Microsoft paid about $3 million for a six-month license to use the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” in its Windows 95 campaign. But reports published around the 1995 launch put the fee at $8 million to $12 million, and no publicly available contract settles the dispute. The $3 million figure comes from former Microsoft executive Bob Herbold, as reported by Network World.
A song title that fit the product
Windows 95 reached retail customers on August 24, 1995. Microsoft’s campaign used the Rolling Stones’ 1981 hit “Start Me Up,” whose title made an unusually direct connection to the operating system’s new Start button. The company was also buying the energy and recognition of a famous rock song for a launch it wanted to feel like a mass-market cultural event, not simply a software release. The Los Angeles Times described the campaign as a way to generate excitement and give Windows 95 a more fashionable image.
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The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones 1964-1971 | $9.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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This was a license to use an existing song and recording in advertising and promotion—not evidence that the Stones recorded a new Windows song or performed at the launch. Contemporary coverage presented the deal as a notable break with the band’s longstanding reluctance to license established songs for advertising. That narrower description is safer than claiming the Stones had never had any connection to advertising.
Why accounts give different prices
The $3 million figure conflicts with prominent reports from the time. The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times reported $12 million for the rights. The Independent reported approximately $8 million.
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Herbold’s later account, reported by Network World, puts the payment at about $3 million for a six-month license. It is the strongest later account in the available reporting, but it is still a recollection—not a published contract, invoice, or rights agreement. The contemporary figures are evidence of what newspapers reported, not proof of the final fee. The most accurate answer therefore distinguishes the later account from the launch-era estimates rather than choosing a figure and presenting it as settled fact.
There are plausible reasons figures might differ: reports may have described estimates rather than the final negotiated amount, or used different definitions of the rights package, territory, media, or license period. Confusion between rights in the composition and rights in a particular recording is another possibility. An inflated figure circulating during negotiations is also conceivable. None of these explanations is established by the cited reporting, so they should remain possibilities, not asserted explanations.
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Who got the money?
It is more precise to say Microsoft paid for commercial rights connected with “Start Me Up” than to say it paid “the band” a sum that was divided equally among its members. Contemporary reports emphasized Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ connection to the song’s copyrights. But the available reporting does not document how the license fee was divided among the songwriters, performers, publishers, record companies, managers, or other rights holders. Nor does it spell out the contract’s payment schedule, renewal options, or detailed rights.
One fee within a much larger launch
The song license was only one part of Windows 95’s promotion. Contemporary estimates of the broader campaign varied: the Washington Post cited about $300 million in promotion, the Los Angeles Times described a global marketing campaign of roughly $200 million, and the Independent reported a launch-cost range of $110 million to $200 million. These estimates need not measure the same thing; they may differ in geographic scope, time period, and whether events, retail support, publicity, and related promotional costs were included. They should not be conflated with the fee for “Start Me Up.”
Rank #3
- Shrink-wrapped
The Stones deal mattered because it joined a simple product feature—the Start button—to a globally recognizable song and a high-profile campaign. That makes it a memorable example of a technology launch using pop culture to shape a product’s image. The available evidence establishes the campaign’s visibility and scale, not that the song by itself caused Windows 95’s commercial success or delivered a measurable return on the licensing fee.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The careful answer
If one figure is needed, say that Microsoft appears to have paid about $3 million for a six-month license, according to former executive Bob Herbold’s later account. If describing what audiences were told at the time, note that contemporary reports put the fee as high as $12 million, with another report giving approximately $8 million. The exact contract value remains publicly unverified.
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Rank #4
- Hitting #1 in 19 countries upon release in 2023, Hackney Diamonds marked the return of The Rolling Stones as their first original studio album since 2005's A Bigger Bang
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