Legendary American singer Bob Dylan has sold the rights to his entire catalog of recorded music to Sony, the music industry giant announced on Monday. This is the latest episode in a series of buyouts of repertoires, which have become precious assets in the age of streaming.
The deal, which dates back to July 2021 but was only announced on Monday, covers almost sixty years of music by the folk and country singer, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, from his first album bearing his name in 1962, which was a fiasco, until Rough and Rowdy Ways in 2020. A total of 39 albums.
Beyond tubes like Like a RollingStone, Tangled Up in Blue Where Just Like a Womanthe transaction also covers the “rights for future new releases” of songs by the 80-year-old artist, according to a press release from Sony Music Entertainment (SME).
The amount of the buyout has not been communicated, but sites specializing in the music industry, such as Billboard and Variety, evoke an amount greater than 200 million dollars.
Author of texts committed against social injustice, war, racism and slavery, living legend of American music, Bob Dylan had already marked the music industry by ceding, at the end of 2020, all of his rights copyright — distinct from the recording rights sold to Sony — to another giant, Universal, for an amount valued at the time at $300 million.
While royalties make it possible to receive dividends on the broadcasting of a title on the radio or in streamingon album sales or on their use in an advertisement or in a film, the holders of recording rights can decide on future reissues.
Bowie, Springsteen
“Bob Dylan and SME will continue to collaborate on a whole series of reissues of the artist’s catalog”, announces Sony, quoting the famous series of Bootleg. These albums of previously unreleased versions of his masterpieces or lives started in 1991 and are now in their 16and volume.
The deal solidifies a long-standing relationship between Sony and Bob Dylan, who signed in 1961 to Columbia Records, which became a subsidiary of the music giant.
“Columbia Records and Rob Stringer [le président de Sony Music Group] have always been good to me, for many, many years and many records. I am happy that all my recordings can stay where they belong, ”said the poet-singer, quoted in the press release.
This transaction is the latest episode in a long series of purchases of copyrights or publication of catalogs of dead or living artists, but deemed timeless, which have become precious assets, particularly with the revolution in streaming.
For months, the names of artists have been added to the list, such as David Bowie, whose copyright was acquired by Warner for an estimated $250 million. Or “Boss” Bruce Springsteen, who sold the copyright and recording rights to all of his repertoire to Sony in December for an estimated $550 million. Before them, Tina Turner, Neil Young or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others, had already carried out such operations.
After a difficult phase during the 2000s, the music industry took on new life with the streaminga major source of income for catalog owners.
Sony, Universal and Warner, the three giants of the music industry, are now seeing the sector invested by new players, investment funds like Hipgnosis, interested in the safe assets represented by the classics.