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Dylan sells his entire catalog


specialk

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Yeah, I'm curious too, at this particular time why he did it. Is he going through divorce? 

At any rate, it's none of my business, even though I'll gossip about it. ha. 

Maybe we'll be hearing more Dylan songs in movies and tv now. 

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Dylan's family could continue to manage his likeness and the use of his music in the future.  Bob might have other plans.  He may want the money in a charitable trust.  He might want to throw an endless party for the rest of his life.  Bob made the money, so he can do what he wants with it. 

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Stevie Nicks did likewise very recently, I believe her take was $80M.  It's seems that several publishing groups are on a buying spree which puts prolific/popular writers into the proverbial "bird in the hand vs. two in the bush" decision.  Either one is fine, it's just a question of how one decision or the other fits your plans.

I was married into the family of an old-school Tin Pan Alley songwriter.  I assume that, by the time he passed, his catalog wasn't all that lucrative or attractive, but he had amassed enough to live quite comfortably in Hollywood and the royalties kept coming in.  Eventually they put his grandkids and two great-grands through college.

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7 minutes ago, tomteriffic said:

Stevie Nicks did likewise very recently, I believe her take was $80M.  It's seems that several publishing groups are on a buying spree which puts prolific/popular writers into the proverbial "bird in the hand vs. two in the bush" decision.  Either one is fine, it's just a question of how one decision or the other fits your plans.

I was married into the family of an old-school Tin Pan Alley songwriter.  I assume that, by the time he passed, his catalog wasn't all that lucrative or attractive, but he had amassed enough to live quite comfortably in Hollywood and the royalties kept coming in.  Eventually they put his grandkids and two great-grands through college.

+1!  There's a lot of money to be had in licensing fees and royalities nowadays, just turn on the TV and check out how many well-known or 'nostalgic' songs (depending on when you grew up listening to them) get used for commercials.

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Iron Maiden and David Bowie both sold stock in their catalogs.  Iron Maiden then got into the video game market where their music would be part of the games.  David Bowie's music along with songs he wrote for others began appearing in advertisements. 

One has to wonder how many agents represent music artists in Hollywood for the purpose of getting music into movie and television soundtracks. 

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I am waiting to see which TV show licenses "Desolation Row". They would not even need dialogue for 10 minutes or so. I got a kick out of Charlie McCoy's comments re that session.

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And Paul McCartney has fought long with Sony to get his catalogue back.

My guess, just a guess, is that Dylan has made some tough terms on how the catalogue shall be handled. He might want his music to live on, and feel that a music publisher will be better at keeping it alive than a bunch of relatives.

I've been a music publisher since 1993 and one thing I know is, don't sell your rights without some very tough terms. And a clause that gives you the right to buy it back, should you ever regret what you have done.

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3 hours ago, django49 said:

I am waiting to see which TV show licenses "Desolation Row". They would not even need dialogue for 10 minutes or so. I got a kick out of Charlie McCoy's comments re that session.

Is that where he said that Dylan made them wait around forever until he was inspired? And then whenever he asked him if he should try "x" Dylan would say, "I don't know man, what do you think?" 

I did some googling and that's what I found, but I was curious if you had read something more in-depth? Thanks! 

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1 hour ago, sonic1974 said:

Is that where he said that Dylan made them wait around forever until he was inspired? And then whenever he asked him if he should try "x" Dylan would say, "I don't know man, what do you think?" 

I did some googling and that's what I found, but I was curious if you had read something more in-depth? Thanks! 

Well, good old Charlie told a different story than he tells in more recent years. I recall clearly an interview (in print) in the late 60s. I recall him saying it was himself that left after the frustration of sitting through multiple 11+ minute takes. If it was, in fact, only him, Dylan and the bass player (more recent interview) and they did it live. something does not add up. I may be wrong, but think I hear TWO different guitars, as well as the bass and harp. As I recall the interview (old one) talked of McCoy's work on harmonica. And "official" talk seems to be of the second ("flamenco") guitar part being overdubbed later. Who knows the truth? Apparently this song was recorded multiple times. some in an electric version with Kooper and Bloomfield.

Now if Dylan did the rhythm AND harp work, while McCoy did the entire lead guitar part live, totally improvised in the studio, my hat is off to all of them. McCoy said the guitar part was way outside his realm, lending more credibility to the overdub idea. Esp after he said that Dylan "sorta showed him the chords" and asked him to play something that fits.

BTW, the Dead did a really nice version of the tune live.

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13 minutes ago, cynic said:

No they didn't

Different strokes. At least it sounded good to me.....Round about 30 years ago. 😉

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1 hour ago, specialk said:

Just shows how really rare solid, prolific songwriters are. And how hard solid songs are to come up with.  Imagine the price of Paul Simon's catalog. And they're worth every penny. 

I'd read in an interview with Simon years ago that he used a notebook per song.  Each page would be a line.  He'd write the line at the top and refine it.  the bottom of each page was the final lyrics.  Seemed pretty brilliant to me at the time. 

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On 12/7/2020 at 5:57 PM, The Shark said:

I would bet this is "estate planning".  He doesn't need the money and it may be this is the best offer he's ever received.  

Further to that point......There have been serious proposals floated to change the federal tax system that would affect the way such sales are taxed. If enacted, and if the changes were retroactive to January 1, 2021, recognizing the gain in 2020 rather than gambling and waiting until next month could save Bobby something on the order of $60 million in taxes at the federal level alone. You might just call that "ASTUTE planning".

I know a few folks who are contemplating triggering serious gains before December 31 ends, albeit none of them in the nine figure range........

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