Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen has become the latest classic rocker to sell their back catalog to another party, as Springsteen has sold his music rights to Sony Music Entertainment for approximately $500 million, according to Billboard and The New York Times. The deal includes both Springsteen’s recorded music catalog and his songwriting rights.
A number of artists have sold their catalogs off in the past two years, either to music companies or private equity groups, for millions of dollars. Bob Dylan sold his songwriting catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group in 2020 for anywhere between $100 and $300 million. Paul Simon and Stevie Nicks are among the other notable artists who have struck similar deals. However, Springsteen’s deal would dwarf all of them.
Springsteen has been with Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music, for his entire career and controlled the rights to his catalog as well as his songwriting copyrights.
Update: Sony Music Group has released an official announcement that “it has acquired Bruce Springsteen’s entire recorded music and songwriting catalogs through separate agreements.”
Said Springsteen, “I am one artist who can truly say that when I signed with Columbia Records in 1972, I came to the right place. During the last 50 years, the men and women of Sony Music have treated me with the greatest respect as an artist and as a person. I’m thrilled that my legacy will continue to be cared for by the Company and people I know and trust.”
