Bob Dylan sells entire catalogue for $404m

The rock icon sold more than 600 copyrights spanning 60 years to Universal Music in historic deal rivalled only by the Beatles.

Legendary US folk singer Bob Dylan has sold more than 600 song copyrights spanning 60 years to Universal. Picture: AFP

For most of his 58 years in the public eye, Bob Dylan has acted as an artistic mirror: in him, people tend to see what they want to see, from unparalleled genius to talent­less buffoon, and everything in between those extremes.

His overwhelming preference for stony silence has neither ­dis­suaded nor encouraged commen­t­­ators from their opinions.

A long time ago, it seems, the 79-year-old made up his mind to ignore the noise and plough ahead, following his muse wherever it led him. Whether or not anyone followed him? No matter.

So it is with the news on Tuesday that the Nobel prize-winning American songwriter has sold his entire catalogue to the world’s second-largest music publisher.

The deal includes more than 600 copyrights spanning nearly 60 years, from generation-defining works such as Blowin’ in the Wind, The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Like a Rolling Stone, to Dylan’s 39th and newest album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, which was released in June.

The terms of the deal with Universal Music Publishing Group were not disclosed, but US industry insiders estimate the price at more than $US300m ($404m), The New York Times reported.

Fans who are worried that Dylan’s loss of control of his catalogue will lead to a slew of crass commercials should have paid attention earlier: for years, his music has soundtracked ads for lingerie, cars, yoghurt and the Apple iPod.

“Dylan had no comment on the deal,” noted The New York Times in its report on the sale.

Of course he didn’t. “No comment” has been the central pillar of Dylan’s public policy platform for decades.

Few recording artists produce work with such power; fewer are savvy enough to own their own copyright. Fewer still stick with the act of creation, as opposed to falling back on giving their audience what it wants by performing their greatest hits in the manner in which they were originally recorded.

Dylan has steadfastly refused to do that. At his last Brisbane concert, in 2018, the frontman and his band performed as if there was a sheet of glass — or perhaps a mirror — separating stage and audience, for at no point did he acknowledge­ the existence of the 10,000-odd people before him. That takes balls. Could you do it?

Could you write 600 songs, some of them world-changing? Could you sell your catalogue of 600 songs for upwards of $US300m to provide for your six children when you die?

Could you build a global audience of admirers through almost always keeping your mouth shut in public, except for when singing, other than when sitting for very rare interviews?

About the time of the release of Rough and Rowdy Ways six months ago, I spoke with Aust­ral­ian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, a longtime admirer of Dylan. Kelly used an analogy that stuck with me. “Dylan’s always been like a giant antenna; he just sort of picks up everything,” he said.

“Part of the fun of listening to the record is spotting the references; the lines from other songs, titles of other songs, references to history, references to Shakespeare. I think that’s what’s really great about songwriters like (Leon­ard) Cohen and Dylan: they’ve produced really strong late work. Writing great songs in their 70s? That’s something to ­aspire to.”

Notably, the Universal publishing deal does not include any of his unreleased songs, nor anything he writes in the future.