Bob Dylan has sold his entire catalog of recorded music to Sony Music Entertainment, along with the rights to several future releases, in a deal estimated to be between $150-200m (£111-148m). ), reports Variety.
The deal covers all of Dylan’s recordings dating back to 1962, including his self-titled debut album, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in March, and future releases and reissues of Dylan’s acclaimed Bootleg series.
Dylan signed with Columbia in October 1961. Rob Stringer, Chairman of Sony Music Group, said they were “extremely proud and excited to continue to develop and evolve our 60-year-old ongoing partnership. Bob is one of music’s great icons and an artist of unparalleled genius.
The sale would also address “new ways to make his music accessible to his many fans today and to future generations,” Stringer said.
Dylan said in a statement: “Columbia Records and Rob Stringer have been nothing but good to me for many, many years and many records. I’m glad all of my recordings can stay where they belong.
In January, Music Business Worldwide analyzed new figures from MRC Data to find that catalog music (defined as older than 18 months) accounted for 73.1% of the US music consumption market in the second half of 2021 and 69 .8% of total album consumption.
The deal continues a concerted period of property management for the 80-year-old songwriter. In 2020, Dylan sold his catalog of songs to Universal Music Publishing for a rumored $400 million and donated his personal archive to the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Dylan is currently facing a lawsuit from an unnamed woman who alleges the musician groomed, drunk and sexually assaulted her when she was 12.
He categorically denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit a “brazen circumvention…false, malicious, reckless and defamatory” and the woman’s alleged timeline of events a “chronological impossibility.”
