Wow, apparently that's some BIG money:

"Terms were not disclosed, but a source tells Variety that the deal was easily in nine figures. Since 80% of Stevie Nicks’ publishing catalog was acquired by Primary Wave last week for a reported $100 million, the Dylan catalog probably drew a number well above that."

I read that Imagine Dragons sold all their songs for over $100 million as well. ( https://variety.com/2020/music/news/imagine-dragons-publishi... )

One wonders if he and his family felt it was better to sell now than later, because for all Dylan’s recognized greatness as a songwriter now, popular tastes can drastically change, especially now that guitar-based music is being eclipsed. There has been a lot of discussion recently about how young people’s familiarity with Elvis or even the Beatles is dwindling, and Dylan’s most acclaimed work was recorded in the same era as them.

Hey, Mr. Licensing Man

Rent a song to me

It's your IP

And culture isn't free no more

(Fun fact: Bob Dylan's prolific songwriting career was started by playing "open source" music)

This is just another example of the need for intellectual property reform. Ideally all of his songs would be public domain by now.

    How many clothes must a person wash?   
    Before you call them grown up   
    How many socks must they lose?   
    Before they aren't a child   
    The answer my friend   
    is Downy Fabric Softener

The subreddit for Bob Dylan made some interesting comments on this, you can follow the discussion here https://www.reddit.com/r/bobdylan/comments/k8fj42/bob_dylan_...

I wonder if this is a sign that the neverending tour is coming to an end. I saw Dylan play for the third time a few years ago and I had a strong sense it was the last time I would ever see him play live.

One reasonable take is that Dylan feels consolidated corporate gatekeepers can't have too much power.

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The artist is now known as Bob's Dealing.

I didnt even know he was still alive