The Boss Might've Just Made Biggest Single-Artist Music Deal Ever

Bruce Springsteen reportedly just sold his entire music, publishing catalogs to Sony for $500M
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 16, 2021 6:26 AM CST
Report: Springsteen Sells Music Rights for $500M
Bruce Springsteen performs at the Stand Up for Heroes benefit concert in New York on Nov. 4, 2019.   (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP, File)

They don't call him The Boss for nothing. Billboard is the first to come in with a report that Bruce Springsteen has inked what may be the largest single-artist music deal ever, selling both his entire music catalog and publishing catalog to Sony for $500 million. The 72-year-old artist has spent his entire five-decade career recording for Sony's Columbia Records, including the five-times-platinum The River and 15-times-platinum Born in the USA, with more than 65 million sales in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

And he's still bringing in the big bucks, 50 years on: Billboard notes his catalog drew about $15 million in revenue in 2020. Per CNN, Springsteen has also been enjoying a renaissance of sorts, with his latest album with the E Street Band, Letter to You, released last year, and his Springsteen on Broadway shows helping to get the Great White Way back up and running in June after a year-plus COVID shutdown.

The New York Times notes that Springsteen has long wielded control over both his recording and songwriting copyrights, with Universal administering his publishing catalog since 2017. The deal comes one year after Bob Dylan sold his entire music catalog for a price said to be close to $400 million. Springsteen and Sony reps haven't yet commented. (More Bruce Springsteen stories.)

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