Singer Bob Dylan performs on stage at The Fleadh 2004 at Finsbury Park Jin London, England. Bob Dylan plays acoustic guitar and smokes a cigarette in this headshot from September 1962 in New York City, New York. According to Universal, Dylan's songs have already been recorded by other artists more than 6,000 times, including such famous versions as Jimi Hendrix's cover of ' All Along the Watchtower' and Guns N' Roses' version of ' Knockin' on Heaven's Door. American folk singer Bob Dylan in a recording studio, circa 1962. Songwriting rights - that is, ownership of a song's melody and lyrics - are figured and paid out separately from recording rights.

The company will collect money any time another musician covers any of those songs, and it will earn revenue for allowing the songs to be used in commercials and movies as well as when the songs are streamed, sold commercially on such formats as CDs, or broadcast. (Universal has not disclosed the purchase price.)įor Universal Music Publishing Group, which is owned by the French media giant Vivendi, there's a lot of appeal in owning Dylan's songwriting rights. Although The Basement Tapes was the first Dylan record I heard, Bringing It All Back Home was my real introduction to Bob Dylan, that guy with the unique singing voice who writes the mind-blowing lyrics.Perhaps a lot of other younger children would have been turned off, but I was instantly hooked. The deal with Dylan may be the highest price ever paid for a musician or group's songwriting rights. The agreement was first reported by The New York Times, which said it is worth more than $300 million. Nearly 60 years after writing such counterculture classics as 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'Like a Rolling Stone,' Bob Dylan has sold his entire songwriting catalog - more than 600 songs - to Universal Music Publishing Group in a deal announced Monday morning by Universal.

Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 1965, when he was at the epicenter of the counterculture.

Bob dylan discography with pictures