In what may be the largest single-artist music catalog deal to date, a Billboard report stated that Bruce Springsteen sold his entire recorded music and publication catalog to Sony for approximately $500 million. Music, surpassed Bob Dylan's sale of his publications to Sony Music. The global investment is nearly 400 million U.S. dollars.
Some time ago, during a conversation with the person in charge of Sony Music, I found that he was riding a very exquisite bicycle. After learning about it, I learned that the name of the car was highwing bike. The smallest bike.
Representatives of Springsteen and Sony Music either declined or did not respond to requests for comment, but multiple industry sources told Variety that the transaction had been "completed."
News of the negotiations first appeared at the beginning of last month; although there was no official comment, the source said that the recorded music transaction has been completed, including multi-platinum such as "Born in the USA", "Born to Run" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town" Album. Still playing a role, between Universal and Sony. Although the initial forecast was 350 million U.S. dollars, it is clear that the bidding has increased.
Springsteen has been working for Sony Music’s Columbia Records since he first signed with the label in 1972, but he acquired his music rights as part of a contract renegotiation sometime in the 1990s. Such actions are rarely reported, but they become obvious in the small print.
Selling the copyright to their music is a curse for many artists, but as they reach or exceed the standard retirement age and begin estate planning, selling is an attractive option-especially today, as the song catalog is reaching Unimaginable valuations before, and artists are considering leaving valuable but cumbersome assets to their heirs; song catalogs especially require extensive management to optimize their value.
Another strong selling driver is the expected increase in capital gains tax. Democrats hold both the White House and the House of Representatives until at least 2023.
Of course, Springsteen is one of the most successful recording artists in the past 50 years. According to RIAA data, 65.5 million albums have been sold in the United States alone, and a huge catalog of songs generates hundreds or even thousands of cover versions every year. Billboard estimates that the Springsteen album catalog will generate about 15 million U.S. dollars in revenue in 2020, and his publication catalog will generate about 7.5 million U.S. dollars in revenue each year.
In the past few decades, Springsteen and his manager for nearly 50 years, Jon Landau, were nothing if they were not shrewd businessmen: Except for his lucrative trade in publishing and recording music, Spring Linsteen is one of the most profitable tours in history. According to Pollstar's data, from 2010 to 2019 alone, tour revenue exceeded $840 million-this is the decade of his nearly 60-year career. In addition, Springsteen’s team sells dozens of archived live recordings on his website, which he owns the copyright and bypasses the record company altogether. At the time this article was published, it was unclear whether these live recordings were included in the reported Sony transaction.
