The Daily Escape:
Eagle, Kent CT – December 8, 2020 photo by JH Clery
Today, let’s talk about something radically different. Bob Dylan has cashed out of 60+ years of his music by selling his publishing rights to the Universal Music Group. It’s reported that Dylan will receive from $300-$400 million. In return, UMG will get all the future income from his music. Whenever a record is sold, the money that once went to Dylan will now go to UMG. Same for the royalties from air play of his songs.
UMG will get to decide who can license Dylan’s tunes. If someday soon you hear “Just Like a Woman” in an ad for perfume, UMG will have made the decision to do it. They’ll also get whatever money that the cosmetic company agreed to pay to use the song.
The selling of publishing rights is nothing new. In recent years, Blondie and Barry Manilow sold theirs, along with the estates of Kurt Cobain and John Lennon. A London-based publishing company has spent more than $1 billion for the rights to the songs of Rhianna, Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake. Last week, Stevie Nicks sold her catalogue for around $100 million.
Dylan’s music has meant a great deal to Wrongo since the early sixties. You know that some are going to call Dylan a sell-out. They’ll say that, as a prime representative of the sixties counter-culture, Dylan should be held to a higher standard; but that’s nonsense!
A note about Wrongo’s favorite Dylan album, 1965’s “Bringing It All Back Home”. It includes “Maggie’s Farm“, “She Belongs to Me“, and “Mr. Tambourine Man”. And it contains one of Dylan’s masterpieces, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding“. This played constantly in Wrongo’s dorm room that year.
The reason “It’s Alright Ma” is so great, is that it’s a message about the culture of the sixties and the counterculture. Listeners were affected by the song, people started to question authority. We’re not talking about cheesy conspiracy theories like today, but what was at that point, the bedrock of our nation. Sadly, NOTHING’S CHANGED since he wrote this:
(Verse 6)
“While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked”
(Verse 10)
“For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be
Nothing more than something they invest in”
Will you think for yourself, or not? That was the question in the sixties, and many young people ended up on Dylan’s side.
(Verse 14)
“While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows their minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely”
All of the politicians and the business executives are powerful until they aren’t.
(Chorus)
“Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to”
In the 1960’s we didn’t buy in, instead, we rejected the system. Today, the opposite is true.
1975’s “Blood on the Tracks” is Wrongo’s second favorite, with “Tangled up in Blue”, “Idiot Wind”, “Simple Twist of Fate”, and “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” as standouts.
Of course, there are many, many great Dylan songs. 1963’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right“. 1964’s “The Times They Are a-Changin“. Dylan’s other 1964 album, “Another Side,” has “It Ain’t Me Babe“. 1965’s “Highway 61 Revisited” had “Like a Rolling Stone“, which was a radio hit in 1965. That was revolutionary, because the song was six minutes long and he didn’t have a traditional radio-friendly voice.
And this year, he released “Murder Most Foul.” A 17- minute stream of consciousness about the Kennedy assassination.
This isn’t the first time he’s monetized his music beyond concerts and the airwaves. His songs have been used in commercials selling products for Google, Apple, Pepsi, Victoria’s Secret and IBM.
It’s his music, and it’s his decision on how it’s used…at least it was until the sale. We live in desperate financial times. If selling their music is what artists need to do to survive, so be it.
It’s 2020 and the times, they are a-changin’.
You can listen to “It’s Alright Ma” here.
Oh Wrongo, I was a Catholic nun throughout the sixties. Every Friday after the students went home some of us swept, washed, waxed, and shined all the classrooms in our 7th thru 12th grade school. There were several student residents who helped us — all of whom were passionate officiannados of Dylan. Thus Friday evenings were accompanied by the blasting of Dylan’s music throughtout our large brick building located on 800 acres of eastern Massachusetts. It made the work most pleasant — and perhaps a bit illicit: especially Lay, Lady, Lay! We thoroughly enjoyed our Friday night workout!
Great to hear from you Rebekah! Yours is a wonderful story about how transformative the sixties were, and how influential Dylan was to our experience!
The Times They are a-changing
I can only hope!
He may appear now to be a greedy sell-out. However it would not be surprising to find that pot of cash going to a charitable foundation rather than $75+ mil capital gain tax!
I think it is great for Dylan to sell out. At 79, he is past his creative years (no because of age, but because with any artist, they only have so many ideas – he was very productive but it is over). The music remains Dylan’s legacy still – so when you listen to a song, it is still his song. But now he has a legacy to pass to whatever he wishes, including his children.
My education is in the arts, BFA and MFA. An artist rarely is productive forever. It still remember harsh reviews of late Tennessee Williams plays and thinking to myself, please shut up, and let the artist have a success – his work is all he has.