Bruce Springsteen sells his life’s work to Sony for $500 million

(Image credit: Danny Clinch)

Bruce Springsteen has become the latest superstar musician to cash in on his master recordings and publishing rights.

The 72-year-old singer/songwriter has sold his life’s work to Sony for a reported $500 million (£376 million). In doing so, the New Jersey-born artist has followed in the footsteps of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Blondie, Paul Simon, Stevie Nicks, David Crosby and more, all of who have given up their publishing in the past couple of years.

Springsteen’s catalogue has sold 65.5 million copies in the US alone, and his music is reported to generate revenues of around $15 million per year.

The BBC reports that, at an investor relations meeting in May, Sony Music's chief executive, Rob Stringer, revealed that the company had spent $1.4bn in acquisitions over the previous six months, which included a multi-million dollar deal to obtain the rights to Paul Simon's back catalogue. If the figures reported by Billboard are accurate, Springsteen's deal would be the most expensive so far, but neither Sony nor Springsteen have made any public comment on reports of the sale.

Springsteen’s most recent studio album, Letter To You, was released in October 2020.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.