Bob Dylan sold his entire song catalog to Universal Music Group in a landmark deal the company announced on Monday.
Through the new deal, UMG now owns around 60 years of Dylan’s music, from his debut in 1962 to his most recent album from this year, Rough and Rowdy Ways. This large-scale deal also encompasses a total of around 600 songs.
Dylan reportedly received a significant amount of money in exchange for the rights, although the exact terms of the deal were not made public. It is currently estimated to be around $300 million. All future radio play, licensing usage and covers of Dylan’s songs will now send all royalties made to UMG.
The company’s CEO Lucian Grainge praised Dylan and the decision in a statement:
As someone who began his career in music publishing, it is with enormous pride that today we welcome Bob Dylan to the UMG family. It’s no secret that the art of songwriting is the fundamental key to all great music, nor is it a secret that Bob is one of the very greatest practitioners of that art. Brilliant and moving, inspiring and beautiful, insightful and provocative, his songs are timeless—whether they were written more than half a century ago or yesterday.
Revisit our 2017 ranking of the best Dylan songs here and watch a complete Dylan performance from the Paste archives below.
