How Much Did Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan And Other Legends Sell Their Music Catalogs For?

How do you put a price on a music catalog? For a number of artists, this question has become increasingly pertinent as companies have been busy gobbling up musicians' catalogs by the portion or swallowing them completely.

There are different levels of selling musical rights, such as publishing and recording, which can be sold separately. Musicians can get the short end of a deal.

One of the most famous was in 1985 when Michael Jackson bought most of The Beatles publishing rights for $47 million, outbidding Paul McCartney. Jackson ended up using the catalog to remain solvent via loans and in 2008 had to give up the remaining interest in it to Sony Group Corp SONY, which took full control of it. In 2018, McCartney sued Sony and won back the rights to 32 Beatles songs.

Taylor Swift and The Beach Boys are among the many musicians who had their music rights sold without input or profit. Here are five musicians who have sold their music catalogs in the last year or so.

• Bruce Springsteen
• $500 million

In December 2021, "The Boss" sold his music catalog to Sony Music Entertainment, part of Sony Group, for $500 million. So, the next time you hear "Born to Run" or another Springsteen song, the royalties go to Sony and nothing to Springsteen.

According to the New York Times, it "may well be the biggest transaction ever struck for a single artist's body of work."

• Bob Dylan
• $300-$400 million or more

What has 600 copyrights, including "Like A Rolling Stone" and "All Along the Watchtower"? Bob Dylan's catalog, spanning almost 60 years.

In December 2020, Universal Music Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi SE VIVEF, purchased 100 % of all of the songs in Dylan's catalog, including the income from his songwriting and copyright. The deal also includes the portion of songs he co-wrote with other musicians. The caveats? It does not include Dylan's unreleased songs or what he writes in the future.

For how much? The final number is, as they say, is blowing in the wind: Most sources say $300 million.

• David Bowie
• More than $250 million

The sale of David Bowie's publishing catalog was announced Tuesday to Warner Chappell Music, which is owned by Warner Music Group WMG. According to Variety, the catalog spans six decades and includes 26 albums with songs such as "Heroes," and "Fame," though a few songs and albums recorded pre-1968 were not included in the deal.

This means that Warner now controls all of Bowie's rights; in September 2021, the company purchased the global rights to the artist's catalog from 1968 through 2016.

• Neil Young
• About $150 million

It was announced on Jan. 5 that Neil Young made a deal with Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a U.K. investment group, for 50% of worldwide copyrights and income from the 1,180 songs composed by Young.

Hipgonsis, founded by Merck Mercuriadis, has been on a bit of a buying streak lately: it has purchased the publishing rights of Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac and Shakira, among others, reported Rolling Stone.

Young has very famously not licensed any of his songs and while full terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Mercuriadis promises that they won't end in a McDonald's commercial.

• Stevie Nicks
• About $80 million

Coming to fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks also proved to be a force as a solo artist. In December 2020, Nicks sold a majority stake — 80% — in copyrights, valued at $100 million, to Primary Wave Music, which also bought the publishing rights of Bob Marley.

Nicks will remain involved working with Primary Waves to partner on marketing, branding and digital strategies to generate more revenue from her catalog, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Photo: Shayne Kaye via Flickr