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Bob Dylan sells entire song catalog to Universal Media Group

sonnymax

By sonnymax
in Miscellaneous Music

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sonnymax Community Regular

sonnymax

Posted
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As the brief news story states, "The deal means that more than 600 of Dylan's copyrighted songs written over nearly 60 years — "from 1962's cultural milestone 'Blowin' In The Wind' to this year's epic 'Murder Most Foul,'" the press release said — are now owned by the media giant."

felser Veteran

felser

Posted
Posted

Yep, sometimes you are happy enough to just take your $300 million and go home, especially if you are almost 80.   That's almost $500,000 per song, including the stinkers like "Joey" etc.

JSngry Grand Master

JSngry

Posted
Posted

voice of a generation - make a lot of noise, make a lot of money, keep making a lot of money, finally cash out, hey, you did what you could, made what you could, not your problem anymore, that noise was ultimately just that - noise.

Voice of a generation indeed1 Exactly!

Dan Gould Mentor

Dan Gould

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

It is strange to me though. Who buys Bob Dylan's music today? I think he made out like a bandit.

 

Depends on those licensing deals doesn't it? The companies (and I guess people) who buy rights to big names are thinking very long term.

Wait a sec, does this mean UMG owns the rights to sell the recordings as well? That changes the calculation too ... for one thing, soon as dies there will be a ton of money to be made. Which can't be too far off if he's nearly 80.

Niko Rising Star

Niko

Posted
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2 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

Depends on those licensing deals doesn't it? The companies (and I guess people) who buy rights to big names are thinking very long term.

Wait a sec, does this mean UMG owns the rights to sell the recordings as well? That changes the calculation too ... for one thing, soon as dies there will be a ton of money to be made. Which can't be too far off if he's nearly 80.

I doubt that UMG now owns the recordings... I would have thought they belonged to Columbia and still do... I guess what it means is that whenever Columbia reissues some of Dylan's music a big check goes to UMG

JSngry Grand Master

JSngry

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Dan Gould said:

Wait a sec, does this mean UMG owns the rights to sell the recordings as well?

Is what used to be Columbia now UMG, or are they still Sony. whoever they are now, they will still be selling the records. But UMG will collect the publishing royalties from those sales.

I do hope that Dylan has some philanthropic organization or something where some of this 300 mil can go (or has been going). None of my business, of course, but it the voice of a generation gets pout-humanitarianed by Bill Gates, well, there's your voice of a generation then.

Dan Gould Mentor

Dan Gould

Posted
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15 minutes ago, Niko said:

I doubt that UMG now owns the recordings... I would have thought they belonged to Columbia and still do... I guess what it means is that whenever Columbia reissues some of Dylan's music a big check goes to UMG

Yeah, I wasn't sure if Dylan had any deal where he owned the recordings/masters. 

Maybe he was tired of paying off the recording costs and decided to take this deal instead? :g

 

duaneiac Newbie

duaneiac

Posted
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Make that "Nobel prize winning" voice of a generation.

It would have been so cool if Dylan had been willing to sell his entire catalog of work for this enormous sum of money -- all except for one song.  He could pick the most obscure song, maybe one he himself forgot he even wrote, and just instruct his lawyers that this one song, and this one song only, was not for sale, no way no how, not for any amount of money!  He would not have to give a reason why or an explanation.  Perhaps he'd even take a bit of a financial hit because the buyer could not brag about owning the "complete" works of Bob Dylan.  The mystique about this one song that Dyaln refused to sell, man, would grow enormously. .  Musicians and academics would study it, seeking out the key which makes this song different from all other Dylan songs.  People would claim how that one had always been their favorite Dyaln song all the time, the other songs are all played out, man.  And it would all be just a big goof.  That would have been so cool!  Even cooler if that song had been titled, "Rosebud"!  :cool:

 

mjzee Mentor

mjzee

Posted
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Get ready to hear Dylan’s tunes on tons of commercials.  The Times They Are A-Changin’... for Pampers.  Like A Rolling Stone... for Land Rover.  Blowin’ In The Wind... for the wind power council.  

Edited by mjzee
jazzbo Grand Master

jazzbo

Posted
Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, Dmitry said:

Money talks...was that his tune also?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/arts/music/bob-dylan-sells-publishing.html?searchResultPosition=1

It is strange to me though. Who buys Bob Dylan's music today? I think he made out like a bandit.

 

I do. I like much of his more recent more than some of his earlier work.

Edited by jazzbo
dicky Rookie

dicky

Posted
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A lot of nonsense, projection and envy on display here.

Bob Dylan is a towering figure the likes of which will likely never exist again. 

To Jazzbo's point, the music he has recorded and performed into his later years is the equal of, and in many ways surpasses, what his younger self created at his so called commercial peak. His consistency and aesthetic greatness is akin to Ellington. 

The comments here are really ignorant and depressing... although somewhat predictable.

Chuck Nessa Veteran

Chuck Nessa

Posted
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49 minutes ago, dicky said:

Chuck - I have a healthy amount of your recordings on disc. I treasure them all. 

What Dylan falls short for you? 

Nothing falls short. I just didn't like your post.

Saw Dylan in a couple if interesting situations and rode the Clark St bus with him and Albert Grossman in '66 or '67.

As a friend on Facebook posted:

What's the world coming to when a brilliant artist who helped change American music, did things with words that weren't previously done in popular music, toured tirelessly for decades, inspired countless performers and songwriters, and is now pushing 80 has the audacity to sell his music publishing catalog for what the market will bear to the buyer of his choice while he's still alive, thereby saving his estate a multitude of headaches and possible acrimony. What an effing sellout!

Edited by Chuck Nessa
Larry Kart Proficient

Larry Kart

Posted
Posted

Circa 1961 I was in a dorm room at the U. of Chicago with a visiting Bob Dylan, then still Bob Zimmerman, and some of that school's talented folkies (the U. of C. was a folk music hot bed at the time). It was my impression that Dylan was not the most accomplished player in the room by a good margin, but when he more or less took charge of things, the music-making came together as it hadn't before.

jlhoots Veteran

jlhoots

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, bresna said:

Jesus, if it's anything like his Christmas album, you got rooked.

Dylan's Christmas CD is the worst Christmas CD I've ever bought.

Nothing to do with Christmas. Not sure why you thought it did.

Edited by jlhoots

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