I wonder how much having to stop the Never Ending Tour had to do with this. Lots of time to reflect on things.

David Crosby is following Dylan and selling his publishing rights as well. I'll post that in the Crosby/CSN&Y thread.

Interesting final sentence in the Billboard article about Dylan's catalog.

I wonder how Dylan ended up with it.

forgive my naiveite, how in the world can bob dylan need money?

Maybe he's just getting his estate in order before his death so his kids don't have to deal with it and so it isn't a mess like Prince's.

Or, to tie it in with another thread here, maybe he just wants to buy another guitar.

This isn't about money per se. The transaction merely converts one asset - the ownership of approximately 600 song copyrights - into another more liquid category of asset (cash). Bob doesn't come out of this any richer or poorer, and I don't suspect that he's likely to be spending the $100 million, so his personal balance sheet won't change. The cash, you can be certain, is going to be invested somewhere rather than just stuffed in a mattress. So, as PeterJ suggested, it looks as if he's just making it easier for his heirs.

I think it's just a mid-life crisis.

Right on. Have read this exact thing in a couple of more business related articles.

Interesting detail about Dylan’s megadeal.

"Song publishing has become an even more valuable asset in recent months, seen as a reliable long-term source of income in an industry where streaming has taken control and the live concert business has at least temporarily collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

***The deal does not include rights to Dylan’s own recordings of his material. So, if Universal is approached to use Dylan’s recording of “Lay Lady Lay,” for example, it would have to be cleared by the artist."

WKCR, 89.9 in New York is having a Bob Dylan Birthday Broadcast today, 24 hours of Bob.

WKCR.org