The rights they are a-changin': Universal buys Bob Dylan back catalogue

Selena Gomez, Halsey and Justin Bieber, but it was not until mid-March, when the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up, that things really kicked into high gear in the music industry.

Bob Dylan has announced a new box set of material recorded in 1970 to celebrate its 50 year anniversary.‘1970 (50th Anniversary Collection)’ will arrive on February 26, 2021 via Columbia/Legacy.The three-disc set features outtakes from Dylan’s sessions for studio albums ‘New Morning’ and ‘Self Portrait’, as well as his infamous 1970 studio session with George Harrison.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRare collaborations between Bob Dylan and George Harrison will be included on a deluxe reissue entitled ‘Bob Dylan – 1970’ that is due on February 26, Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, announced Friday.

Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, MusicUniversal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge was one of the first music industry executives to contract COVID-19 this year, entering the hospital shortly after his 60th birthday celebration at the end of February.

David Bowie‘s covers of John Lennon‘s ‘Mother’ and Bob Dylan‘s ‘Tryin’ To Get To Heaven’ will be released as a special 7” single to mark the late icon’s birthday.Bowie, who died in January 2016, would have turned 74 years old on January 8, 2021.

Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin have released the latest cover in their ongoing ‘Hanukkah Sessions’ series – you can watch their brilliant take on Bob Dylan‘s’ ‘Rainy Day Women #12 & 35’ below.The two artists have marked the religious festival by delivering their take on a selection of tracks by Jewish artists – kicking off the series last Thursday (December 10) with a rendition of Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’.Covers of Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ , Mountain’s ‘Mississippi Queen’ and Peaches’ ‘Fuck The Pain

Bob Dylan, Mazzy Star, Arthur Russell and Tracy Chapman.The New York-based band, whose debut self-titled album arrived earlier this year, have today (November 9) shared a covers EP as well as a filmed performance of Russell classic ‘Nobody Wants A Lonely Heart’.The supergroup is comprised of Interpol‘s Paul Banks, producer Josh Kaufman and The Walkmen‘s Matt Barrick.Last Friday (December 4) Muzz gave their first ever world exclusive live performance: Muzz – Live in Kingston, NY.The show was

Fiona Apple has discussed how she ended up appearing on Bob Dylan‘s huge 2020 track ‘Murder Most Foul’.Apple and her frequent collaborator Blake Mills appeared on the track, which was part of Dylan’s studio album ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’.“So I’m sitting here with [best friend] Zelda [Hallman] in February, really relaxed, and we’re about to have dinner, and I look down at my phone and see Blake Mills texting me,” Apple told Pitchfork in a new interview.“I hadn’t heard from Blake in months.

David Crosby has taken to Twitter to announce he intends to sell his catalogue of work, saying “streaming stole my record money”.“I can’t work… I have a family and a mortgage and I have to take care of them so it’s my only option ..I’m sure the others feel the same,” Crosby said in his tweet on Tuesday (December 8).Crosby’s tweet was responding to a thread regarding the recent news that Bob Dylan has sold his complete catalogue to Universal.

Monday’s announcement that Dylan had sold the rights to his six-decade trove of tunes to Universal Music in a deal that is believed to be the biggest ever of its kind: Sources told Bloomberg it was more than $200 million, while the New York Times reported that it could be more than $300 million.This news came just a few days after Nicks sold 80 percent of her stake in her publishing rights — for both her Fleetwood Mac and solo work — to music publisher Primary Wave for $100 million, according to

What do you do when the likes of Hipgnosis and Round Hill have made buying up music rights a popular past-time among those super-rich city types and you’re meant to be a pro at that sort of thing? I know, get $300 million out of the cash box and buy up the entire songs catalogue of a songwriter so good he won a Nobel prize for his lyrics.

Universal Music Publishing Group, part of Vivendi's Universal Music Group, on Monday unveiled the acquisition of Bob Dylan's entire catalog of songs. The "landmark agreement encompasses more than 600 copyrights spanning 60 years, from 1962's cultural milestone 'Blowin' In The Wind' to this year's epic 'Murder Most Foul'," the music major said.

Bob Dylan's entire catalog of songs, which reaches back 60 years, is being acquired by Universal Music Publishing Group.

sold the rights to his back catalogue. For one thing, selling your publishing rights or your master recordings is commonplace among artists of a certain stature, netting them huge lump sums in the process and giving the buyer ownership of the kind of songs that people are clearly going to be playing and recording cover versions of for the rest of eternity: everyone from Elton John to Stevie Nicks has done it.

Bob Dylan has sold the rights to his entire catalogue of songs to Universal in a landmark new deal. 

Bob Dylan has struck a historical deal with Universal Music to sell his entire songwriting catalogue.According to the New York Times, the music icon has sold his back catalogue for an eye-watering $300 million (£225 million), giving Universal the ownership of over 600 songs spanning a period of almost six decades.It includes career-cementing early classics such as ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, ‘The Times They Are A-Changing’ and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, all the way through to 2020’s ‘Rough and Rowdy

told Bloomberg the songs are worth more than $200 million, with others telling the New York Times that it could be more than $300 million.That would make it likely the biggest acquisition ever of the music publishing rights of a single act, the paper said.Dylan — who had previously controlled most of his own songwriting copyrights — sold more than 600 copyrights spanning 60 years, Universal said.That includes classics that made him an icon from his time in New York in the early 1960s — such as

Bob Dylan, whose music career has stretched from the early-1960s folk scene to a critically acclaimed album released earlier this year, has sold his entire song catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group.