Why the songwriting catalogs of music icons could be the new gold

Why the songwriting catalogs of music icons¹ could be the new gold

Transcript²

Music icons like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have sold their songwriting catalogs for eye-popping amounts of money. It's a growing trend in an industry that's shifted since the start of streaming.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Investment firms have been spending a lot of money, billions of dollars in total, to buy the songwriting catalogues of music icons. We're talking about Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DREAMS")

FLEETWOOD MAC: (Singing) Now, here you go again. You say you want your freedom.

MARTIN: Stacey Vanek Smith and Anastasia Tsioulcas from our daily economics podcast The Indicator³ from Planet Money are here to explain why some investors⁴ are betting these classic songs are the new gold.

STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE⁵: Historically, the economics of the recording⁶ industry are messy and pretty complicated, and a lot of artists will tell you that, in fact, is very much on purpose. I mean, this was an industry that had ties to gangsters⁷ going back to at least the '30s and '40s.

ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, BYLINE: And the thing to know right now is that, in many of these gargantuan⁸ deals, we're talking about the rights to the composed music and the lyrics⁹, not the recordings¹⁰ that artists make of that music.

VANEK SMITH: Musicians who have written their own material are selling off their songwriting copyrights to investors. They are all intensely aware that these days they're earning way less on Spotify and other streaming services than they did when fans bought CDs or vinyl. So, Anastasia, you went to a couple of the biggest players in the music business to find out - why did music become so attractive to investment firms and venture capitalists all of a sudden?

TSIOULCAS: That's right. One of them is Merck Mercuriadis. As a longtime figure in the music business, he's worked with what seems like everybody - Culture Club, Iron Maiden¹¹, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Beyonce.

VANEK SMITH: And Merck's company Hipgnosis Songs now owns about $2.2 billion worth of assets.

TSIOULCAS: Merck likes to compare songs as an asset comparable to gold and oil, and that's music to investors' ears.

MERCK MERCURIADIS: You know, if there's political upheaval¹², then the price of gold and oil is affected¹³. But songs are something that you're taking comfort and you're escaping with these great songs. So they're always being consumed.

TSIOULCAS: That's kind of a mix of old-fashioned entertainment business razzle dazzle with investment talk. But investors are clearly liking¹⁴ the returns they're seeing, according to Larry Miller¹⁵. He's a professor and the director of the music business program at New York University.

LARRY MILLER: The value of music rights is at a historic high. If you were a songwriter who wrote a very important catalog and you perhaps were looking at selling that a decade or so ago in 2011 or '12, you might be able to obtain something between 12 to 15 times annual revenue for that catalog. Today, that same writer, they are able to get upwards¹⁶ of 25 to 30 or more times annual revenue.

VANEK SMITH: That is good money.

TSIOULCAS: And these companies are making their investments pay off by putting these classic songs right back into the public's ears. They license¹⁷ them out for use in advertisements, movies, video games, TV shows, on Peloton and earning some revenue via streaming services, too. So look forward to all these classic songs becoming even more omnipresent, thanks to Wall Street.

Anastasia Tsioulcas.

VANEK SMITH: Stacey Vanek Smith, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOKHOV'S "GOLDEN WAVES")

1 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 gangsters   

匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
• One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。

8 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

9 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

10 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

11 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

12 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

15 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

16 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

17 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。