Spotify Ruined Artists, Prompting Catalog Sales As Dylan Did

Just before David Bowie would have turned 75, his heirs gave themselves a sizeable present by selling the rights to his whole music catalog. That drew in $250 million, according to Variety, Philip Dethlefs reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) recently.

Photo Insert: Once sold, it’s difficult to get song rights back. But at least in the short term, artists get a good deal.

Bowie's oeuvre, spanning six decades, includes more than 25 studio albums with hits like “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Heroes” or “Let’s Dance.” It now belongs to Warner Chappell Music. Bowie, who died in 2016, is the latest of a series of major artists whose catalogs are now owned by big record labels and corporations.

Bob Dylan sold his music catalog, totaling some 600 songs, to Universal in 2020. Bruce Springsteen sold his entire body of work to Sony. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shakira, Tina Turner, and many others have also made considerable sums by giving up the rights to their music.

Universal paid Dylan some $280 million for the rights to his entire music catalog, according to media reports. Springsteen is estimated to top the list with a record sale of $500 million, a sizeable sum for a man whose songs address the plight of the working class.

Artists have sold their music catalogs due to dwindling record sales as people turn to streaming platforms like Spotify. It was worsened by the slump in concert revenues because of the pandemic.

“I can’t work,” American singer-songwriter David Crosby tweeted a year ago, announcing his decision to also sell his rights. “Streaming stole my record money... I have a family and a mortgage and I have to take care of them so it’s my only option.”

Once sold, it’s difficult to get song rights back. But at least in the short term, artists get a good deal. The rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers are said to have made some 140 million dollars in selling to British corporation Hipgnosis.

Radiohead’s lead vocalist Thom Yorke was considered one of the fiercest opponents of streaming services and refused to make his music available via Spotify and other platforms for a long time. Popstar Taylor Swift even temporarily retracted her entire music catalog from all streaming services, in a move indicative of views of the payment model.

Swift holds even stronger views about song rights. The rights to her first six album catalogs lie with record label Big Machine Records where she signed a contract as a 15-year-old assigning the publishing rights in advance.

Since then, the rights to her albums have been re-sold several times, but Swift never managed to buy them back. She has now started to re-record those six albums for her current label, Universal, to regain control over her work.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic