![]() The Times article continues, “Streaming and the global growth of subscription services like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube have turned the industry’s fortunes around. The advent of paid streaming media services has revived the revenues of the music industry since the unlicensed MP3 digital music file distribution cut income from CDs by more than half between 20. Massarsky, an economist who “specializes in calculating the value of music catalogs on behalf of investors.” Massarsky told the Times, “In the last year alone, we did 300 valuations worth over $6.5 billion.” A report in the New York Times on the Springsteen deal quotes Barry M. Combined revenue for Sony (SMG), Universal (UMG) and Warner (WMG), according to Music Business Worldwide, is $2.5 million per hour and they are expected to have finished 2021 with $20 billion in sales from recorded music, publishing and merchandise.Ī second aspect of the catalog acquisition spree is the financialization of the music business and the consequent bidding up of the value of music rights by powerful investment groups. Within the record industry, the Big 3 labels own 80 percent of all music content. Those companies are Comcast, Walt Disney, Viacom CBS, AT&T, Sony and Fox. According to Motley Fool, that process has left just six companies controlling more than 90 percent of everything read, watched or listened to by the public. ![]() The first driver of these mega deals is the consolidation and monopolization of the global media industries. The phenomenon of successful artists selling their music catalogs to giant media conglomerates has different sides to it. The publishing rights purchases come at a time when genuinely independent, oppositional and rebellious art is badly needed.” One can feel the corporate grip tightening over artists and artistic life as a whole. Sting is expected to make an announcement soon of a $250 million music catalog deal with Universal Music Publishing.Īs we noted at the time of Bob Dylan’s sale of his catalog in 2016, “The whole business is quite degrading. On Monday, the estate of David Bowie (who died in 2016) sold the British-born rock star’s publishing rights to Warner Chappell Music for an estimated $250 million. Lindsay Buckingham, Mark Ronson, Chic, Barry Manilow and Blondie have reportedly also entered into such deals. Other artists who have recently sold all or part of their music include Taylor Swift ($300 million in November 2020), Bob Dylan ($300 million in December 2020), Neil Young ($150 million in January 2021), Paul Simon ($250 million in March 2021), David Crosby (undisclosed amount in March 2021) and Tina Turner ($50 million in October 2021). ![]() The Sony-Springsteen deal is likely the largest ever signed by a popular music artist. The two parts of the deal transfer ownership rights of the recorded studio and live music masters catalog, as well as the underlying musical compositions and lyrics catalog, from Springsteen to Sony. According to ChartMasters, Springsteen is the 19th most popular artist in the world.Īlthough Sony did not disclose details of the Springsteen deal, its value was estimated at $550 million by two anonymous individuals who were briefed on it. At Columbia he has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, 64 million in the US. Springsteen, 72, is one of the most popular recorded music and live performance artists of the past half century. I’m thrilled that my legacy will continue to be cared for by the Company and people I know and trust.” During the last 50 years, the men and women of Sony Music have treated me with the greatest respect as an artist and as a person. In the press release, Springsteen said, “I am one artist who can truly say that when I signed with Columbia Records in 1972, I came to the right place. Columbia was sold to Sony Music Group by CBS Records Group in 1988. The deal includes more than 300 songs and 20 studio and 23 live recordings spanning five decades of a career that began with the release by Columbia Records in 1973 of Springsteen’s debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Sony Music Group announced December 16 that it had acquired musician-songwriter Bruce Springsteen’s “entire recorded music and songwriting catalogs through separate agreements.”
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