Why should anyone be surprised Bob Dylan is selling the publishing rights to his music for hundreds of millions of dollars?
2020 has been a tough year for working musicians. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they've been unable to tour. Playing live music is the basic way they make money now. The days of huge royalties through record sales and radio play are long over. Don't even get started about money coming in from streaming groups because that is minuscule at best.
So with concerts canceled throughout the year, and it's not looking all that great for 2021, what's a working musician to do to keep his head above water financially? They have the same obligations as us. Families to house and feed, children to raise, schools to pay for, even car payments. Yes, the artist that you admire, singing all of your favorite songs up on that stage, goes through the same things every one of us does. Just because there's a world-wide pandemic doesn't relieve them of their expenses.
Yesterday, word came out that Bob Dylan was selling the publishing rights to his music. Universal Music Group, out of Los Angeles, has purchased his entire catalogue. Although the exact numbers have not been revealed, it's been estimated that Dylan will receive between $300-450 million. In return for that amount, UMG will get all the income from his music. Whenever a record is sold, the money that once went to Bob will now go to UMG. Same for the royalties from radio play. They'll also get to decide who and where uses Dylan's tunes. When you hear Just Like A Woman used to sell some cosmetics or perfume, it'll be Universal Music Group who has made the decision to do that. They'll also get the money that the cosmetic company pays to use the song.
While the selling of publishing rights is nothing new, the popularity of doing it has increased in recent years. Among the artists selling their publishing rights have been Blondie and Barry Manilow, as well as the estates of the late Kurt Cobain and John Lennon. It's picked up during the pandemic. A London-based publishing company has spent more than one billion dollars to gain the rights to the songs of Rihanna, Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. Just last week, Stevie Nicks sold her catalogue for close to one hundred million dollars.
Look for more of this occur as the pandemic continues. Yesterday, on Twitter, David Crosby tweeted that he's in the process of doing this, too.
“I am selling mine also …I can’t work …and streaming stole my record money. I have a family and a mortgage and I have to take care of them so it’s my only option ..I’m sure the others feel the same. If we could get paid for records and play Live we would not be doing it. None of us."
Back to Dylan, you know that people are going to call him a sell-out and say they hold him to a higher standard. Nonsense! This wouldn't be the first time Bob has used his music to put money in his pocket. His songs have been used in commercials to sell products by Google, Apple, Pepsi, Victoria's Secret and IBM....and there's nothing wrong with this. It's his music, so it's his decision on how it's used....at least it was until yesterday.
Folks, these are desperate times in the world. Everyone is struggling in one form or another. Even the ones who you believe have nothing to worry about have their own worries. It would shock most of us to see the financials of some of the biggest rock stars in the history of the genre. If selling their music is what they need to do to survive, why be shocked or be judgemental about it? It's 2020 and the times, they are a changin'.
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