Music industry: Paul Simon sells rights to his songs to Sony

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Paul Simon at a concert in New York (2015)

Photo: Ilya S. Savenok / Getty Images

Paul Simon, 79, has sold his entire song catalog to Sony Music Publishing.

The deal includes classic songs from "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to "Still Crazy After All These Years", which Simon wrote and recorded over the six decades of his career.

How much Sony paid for it was not known.

As a solo artist, the songwriter has released 13 studio albums (for example "Graceland") and sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

He achieved world fame in the sixties at the side of Art Garfunkel - as the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel and with songs like "Sounds of Silence", "Bridge Over Troubled Water" or "Mrs.

Robinson «.

The sale of catalogs has recently become a trend.

For example, Shakira, Neil Young and Bob Dylan sold their music rights.

Shakira sold all of her previous work to the Hipgnosis Fund, Young sold only 50 percent of his publishing rights to the company that manages intellectual property and song rights.

Bob Dylan had given all of his song rights to Universal for a nine-figure sum in December.

Shortly before, the Fleetwood Mac songwriter Stevie Nicks had sold the rights to her songs for $ 100 million to the publisher Prime Wave.

As a result of the Corona lockdown, the music industry suffered significant losses, especially due to the failure of lucrative live performances.

At the same time, the prices for rights to songs have skyrocketed.

The industry is now hoping for revenues from licenses for the film and advertising industries.

cpa / rtr