Bob Dylan Sells Out

by Pa Rock
Dylan  Aficionado

There was big news in the music world yesterday when it was revealed that the greatest and most prolific songwriter of the rock era, and perhaps of any era - Bob Dylan - had just sold his complete songwriting catalogue of more than six-hundred songs to the French-owned Universal Music Publishing Group.   The sales price of the catalogue was not announced, but most educated guesses put it somewhere north of $300 million.  Dylan will still retain all rights to his recordings.

As I understand it, each time some artist covers (records) one of Dylan's songs, they will have to pay a fee to the music's owner - Universal Music Publishing Group.  Also the new owners will profit by selling the rights to use Dylan's songs in movies, commercials, and other business endeavors.  On the other hand, if a radio station chooses to play,"Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan, the artist himself will receive a payment for that.

My oldest grandson, Boone, plays guitar and sings a bit.  A few years ago I bought him a very weighty songbook (at Costco) which supposedly contained all of Bob Dylan's songs - and while it was all I could do to lift it into the shopping cart, the songbook ran me far less than $300 million!  

Bob Dylan is seventy-nine-years-old.  If he avoids the con-artists who prey on the elderly and stays out of casinos, that ought to be enough money to ride out his golden years in style - especially in rural Minnesota!  And if it isn't enough, he can always pull a "Cher" and start performing annual farewell concert tours!  Or maybe they could do a farewell tour together and lead off with a duet of "It Ain't Me, Babe."

And if that were to happen, Dylan could sing it free because he still has rights to his songs, but Cher would have to pay a fee to the Universal Music Publishing Group because they own the material.  It's all so confusing, but the answer as to how it will all work is out there somewhere - probably blowing in the wind!

Congratulations on your retirement plan, Bob.f. It looks like a winner!