News November 3, 2021

Bruce Springsteen is in talks to sell his music catalogue to Sony

Bruce Springsteen is in discussions to sell the rights to all of his music to Sony Music, including his publishing catalogue.

Never one to rest on his laurels, the legendary rocker has been with Columbia Records since the early 1970s, but feels a change is now needed. It’s believed, though, that Springsteen acquired the rights to his own music during contract renegotiations during his career, which happened to a lot of big artists as a way for record companies to entice them to re-sign.

As first reported by Billboard, the album catalogue deal is almost completed according to several sources, while the publishing catalogue still remains in up for grabs. Although representatives for Springsteen, Sony Music, and Sony Music Publishing haven’t yet responded to requests for comment, talks between them have reportedly been taking place for several months.

With his combined album and song catalogues estimated to be worth anywhere from $330 million and $415 million, any deal will be a very lucrative one. Springsteen is one of the most successful artists of the past five decades, with 65.5 million album sales in the U.S.. Billboard estimated that his album catalogue garnered around $15 million in revenue last year, a huge figure. His publishing catalogue also reportedly rakes in around $7.5 million yearly.

As one of the most consistent touring artists too, concerts are a big money maker for Springsteen: he earned more than $840 million touring in just the last decade alone, between 2010 and 2019, according to Pollstar.

Springsteen is following the example recently set by Bob Dylan, who sold his song catalogue to Universal Music Publishing for a reported amount of almost $400 million in 2020.

This is a developing story so stay tuned for updates on the sale.

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