Bob Dylan’s recordings have reached the end of the line.
Sony Music Entertainment announced Monday that it had purchased the rights to all music recorded by the 80-year-old rock and folk star. That acquisition of Dylan’s recordings also includes “the rights to multiple future releases,” Sony said in a press release.
That music dates back 60 years beginning with his eponymous LP made up mostly of folk standards, but featuring two original tunes, one of which was titled “Talkin’ New York.”
Sony gave no dollar amount in Monday’s announcement. Estimates put the value of publishing rights to his more than 600 song catalog at around $300 million.
Dylan said he’s glad his recording won’t wind up blowing in the wind.
“I’m glad that all my recordings can stay where they belong,” he said in a statement.
Dylan’s representatives have not returned a request for comment from the Daily News. Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer lauded the Nobel Prize-winning musician’s contributions to pop culture and said he looks forward to the work ahead.
“We are excited to work with Bob and his team to find new ways to make his music available to his many fans today and to future generations,” Stringer added.
Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, made his name in the Greenwich Village folk scene, but electrified his act in 1965, causing controversy with folksy traditionalists. That led to hits including “Like A Rolling Stone,” which fused folksy storytelling with a rocking riff. He has since sold more than 125 million records.
His accolades include the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, a 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom, a 2012 Pulitzer Prize and 10 Grammy Awards. Dylan is in the thick of his “Rough and Rowdy Ways” tour, which began late last year and resumes its 2022 engagement in March.
He had sold publishing rights to his extensive catalog to Universal Music in December 2020, and also donated his personal archives to the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Dylan leads a growing band of musical artists who opted to cash in in recent years by parting ways with their lifetime body of work. Neil Young sold a solid chunk of his music in January 2021 in a deal that reportedly brought him $100 million. His former Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate David Crosby also said he planned to sell off his song catalog on account of COVID pandemic restrictions, which shut down his ability to earn money by touring.
Fleetwood Mac band members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have reportedly struck deals to hand over rights to their tunes. In December, Bruce Springsteen sold his music to Sony Music Entertainment for a record $550 million, according to a New York Times report.
Eastman School of Music Professor John Covach told the Daily News last year that for a lot of aging artists, the times, they are a-changing.
“If you’re a young artist in your 20s, you might think, ‘This is my retirement money, I have a revenue stream, I’m not going to sell my songs now,’” Covach said. “It’s different when you have more history behind you than future in front of you.”
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