DOUGH-RE-MI
Icons selling their song catalogs for millions
No one would accuse Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks or David Crosby of compromising their musical integrity to make a few bucks, but they are selling out in their twilight years — and cashing in.
Those septuagenarian headliners, all of whom have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at least once, have recently found themselves in the news cycle for putting their vast song catalogs on the market.
According to Eastman School of Music Professor John Covach, different artists have different motivations. But for some musicians, their golden years are the right time to trade “Heart of Gold” for a pot of gold.
“If I had to guess, I’d think they made a calculated decision that their catalog is at its peak value and they can get more for it now, rather than wait for a generational change,” Covach told the Daily News.
Young made news Wednesday after he parted with the rights to half his music for $100 million in a deal with The Hipgnosis Songs Fund in the United Kingdom. The 75-year-old songwriter has recorded 70 albums as a solo artist and as a member of bands including Buffalo Springfield, Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Young has long been picky about how his music is used with regards to commercial purposes and politics. He sued President Trump’s campaign in August to stop it from using his music at rallies. The conditions of his new deal have not been disclosed.
His former bandmate Crosby told NPR last month that he, too, was planning to sell the rights to his music. In Crosby’s case, he said that it’s to make ends meet.
“Along comes COVID. And I can no longer play live, and I’m not going to be able to play live any time soon,” the 79-year-old Crosby said. “The one thing that I have, the one asset that I have is the publishing rights. And selling my income stream that way allows me to — God, I hate the word even — retire and take care of my family.”
Covach said a lot of musicians in the 1970s, ‘ 80s and ‘ 90s benefited from working in an era when record sales were a solid stream of revenue. Now, artists make more money performing. Once a musician is done touring, selling their song rights might make sense.
“If you’re a young artist in your twenties, you might think, ‘This is my retirement money, I have a revenue stream, I’m not going to sell my songs now,’ ” he said. “It’s different when you have more history behind you than future in front of you.”
The cash value of Crosby’s music, including several hits with the Byrds, is unclear.
Dylan dumped his eclectic song catalog spanning 600 tunes dating back nearly 60 years last month to Universal Music Publishing Group. While the terms of the 79-year-old icon’s “landmark deal” have not been disclosed, a figure of $300 million has been blowing in the wind.
“You can imagine if you’re Bob Dylan and you’re looking back at songs you wrote in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it may feel like those songs were written by a different person,” Covach speculated. “There may no longer be as much of an attachment.”
Days before Dylan’s deal was announced, Nicks, 72, sold 80% of her music for a landslide of cash estimated at $100 million. Nicks, the only woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, has seen success as a solo artist and as a member of Fleetwood Mac.
Her ex-beau and former bandmate Lindsey Buckingham sold the rest of his 161-song catalog last week to the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which had acquired a portion of that collection last fall. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.
While Taylor Swift is only 31, rights to the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer’s first six albums were reportedly the centerpiece in a $300 million deal involving a private investment firm and including other musical properties. Swift did not approve of that sale, which was orchestrated by her former record label.
Bill Flanagan, host of Fab Forum on SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel, compares a great song catalog to an old beach house that a pensioner may sell rather than leaving to their children to deal with after they’re gone.
“Publishing is a complicated business,” he said. “They start to think, would I want to put (my family) into the publishing business or do I want to leave them the cash?”
In most cases, Flanagan says, artists selling out for big bucks already have plenty of money.
“I think there’s no question with Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks or Lindsey Buckingham that they’re financially secure,” he said.