Bob Dylan sells entire songwriting catalogue to Universal Music

Universal Music Publishing Group recently announced that it has acquired the entire songwriting catalogue of legendary rock musician and Nobel Prize-winning songwriter Bob Dylan.

In a statement, the media giant said that the landmark deal covers 600 copyrighted songs spanning 60 years including Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind, The Times They Are a-Changin’, Like A Rolling Stone, Lay Lady Lay, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, and Forever Young.

Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, The New York Times estimated the price of the acquisition at more than $300 million.

“It is no exaggeration to say that his vast body of work has captured the love and admiration of billions of people all around the world. I have no doubt that decades, even centuries from now, the words and music of Bob Dylan will continue to be sung and played – and cherished – everywhere,” Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge said.

Since his debut in New York’s folk music scene in the early 1960s, the 79-year-old musician has sold more than 125 million records around the world. In 2016, Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” He is the only songwriter to receive such distinction.

“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,” Grainge said.

Dylan’s songs have been recorded more than 6,000 times by an array of artists representing dozens of countries, cultures and music genres including Guns N’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder and Adele.

(Images from Associated Press)