According to US media reports, rock musician Bruce Springsteen, 72, has sold the rights to his entire work to the music company Sony Music Entertainment. The deal includes the US artist’s music catalog as well as his work as a songwriter, reported on Wednesday the New York Times, which relied on two people familiar with the agreement. The value of the deal, which includes rights to hits such as “Born In The USA” and “Blinded by the Light”, is estimated at 500 million US dollars (the equivalent of around 442 million euros) and could be even higher, the paper wrote .
Initially, the industry magazine Billboard reported. It was possibly the biggest deal that has been concluded for the work of a single artist, it said in the New York Times. An official statement from Sony or Springsteen was initially not available. Representatives of the music company and the artist, who is called “The Boss” by millions of fans, initially declined to comment, the paper wrote. The agreement for the sale was therefore concluded in the past few weeks. Details of the conditions are not known.
Springsteen, who hails from the US state of New Jersey and began his career in the 1970s, is one of the most successful rock musicians in the world with 20 Grammys and many number one albums. More and more musicians are giving up their song rights in whole or in part – for example Paul Simon, Neil Young or Bob Dylan. The reasons are, among other things, declining sales of sound carriers and, due to the pandemic, collapsing concert income – while revenues from the streaming and series boom are becoming more valuable for the industry.