OPINION: Musicians should not be selling their publishing or masters

By Matthew Dias

In the past several months, it’s been reported that many musicians have sold either their master recordings (the final recordings released), their publishing rights (songwriting rights), or both. As it has for all Americans and all people worldwide, the coronavirus pandemic has affected aspects of musicians’ lives. Musicians are unable to tour and recording has taken a hit as well.

Regardless, musicians of all shapes and sizes have lost a stream of income. Famous musicians have been hit hard as well, with many selling their material as a result, including but not limited to: The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, David Crosby, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Richie Sambora, and Shakira. Crosby, a controversial figure within his own bands and even more so due to Twitter, admitted that he would rather have kept his rights to his recordings and publishing. However, since he is currently unable to tour, he was forced to do so to support his family and not lose his house.

Among the companies that have profited from this are Iconic Artists Group (run by Eagles and Journey manager Irving Azoff) and several publishing companies including Sony, Universal Music, and Hipgnosis. Iconic, Sony, and Universal Music have focused on buying the catalogues of large legacy musicians, while Hipgnosis has focused more on successful individual songwriters.

The amount being sold varies by artist. Young and Nicks focused on a percentage of their publishing rights, while Buckingham, Dylan, and Simon have sold all of their publishing. Ronstadt has sold her performance rights to her masters. The Beach Boys have sold everything– masters, publishing, and all intellectual property held by the band – likely partly caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but also primarily as a result of internal strife and a lack of consensus that has plagued the band for decades.

These developments have been interesting and disappointing for many reasons. Some of these musicians, especially Crosby, Dylan, and Young, have focused their careers on enacting change through music and boycotting the establishment. While Crosby has admitted his unfortunate reason for selling, it remains yet to be seen why Dylan and Young have sold, even though the most likely reasons include the rise of streaming and decline in purchasing recordings. Bob Dylan is one of the most famous songwriters in the history of popular music, and covers of his material (plus his constant recording) should likely be bringing substantial publishing royalties. Linda Ronstadt’s recording royalties are her only source of income since her retirement.

Many musicians have complained about losing rights and then watching as their songs are used to sell products that they believe are inferior; if that is true, they are now enabling this scenario. It will be interesting to see how the future unfolds with the pandemic and with possible future sales.