Rock's Drumbeat Of Deals

Big-time songwriters are selling all or parts of their catalogs to hungry new buyers

- Lucas Shaw and Thomas Seal

Bob Dylan was supposed to spend the summer of 2020 on tour, winding his way from the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend, Ore., to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in upstate New York. Instead, stranded at home because of the pandemic, he lined up the biggest payday of his career.

For years, music executives had approached Dylan about buying his catalog, which includes more than 600 songs such as Blowin’ in the Wind and Like a Rolling Stone. Dylan always turned them down, but in December the 79-year-old reconsidered and made more than $300 million in a pact with Universal Music Group Inc.

The sale was the largest in a spate of recent deals in which stars have cashed in on their old songs. Lindsey Buckingham, Shakira, Neil Young, and producer Jimmy Iovine sold all or part of the rights to their catalogs, while Stevie Nicks and songwriter Ryan Tedder (who’s written for Adele, Beyoncé, and Carrie Underwood, among others) sold majority stakes in theirs.

Music assets are bought and sold all the time, but there’s never been a period as active as the past few months. Industry executives cite the emergence of aggressive buyers, low interest rates, and Covid-19, which has prevented musicians from touring, their primary source of income. Before 2020, Dylan had toured every year for a decade, grossing more than $130 million. Although he put out five studio albums in that span, his earnings from new releases dwindled in the shift from CDs to streaming.