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Bob Dylan’s dream
So Bob Dylan has sold the ownership rights in his catalog of some 600 songs to Universal Music for a sum reported to be about $300 million, although some say it is closer to $400 million. Whichever it is, Mr. Dylan will not have to resort to eating Kraft Dinner in order to make ends meet.
Six hundred songs. That’s quite an inventory. Most songwriters are lucky if they are remembered for one song. The exceptional ones—like Willie Nelson and Paul McCartney— hit a ceiling of maybe couple of dozen. Someone recently claimed that Irving Berlin wrote a thousand memorable songs. I don’t believe it. While even Mr. Dylan would probably admit there may be a few dogs in his collection, the list of his memorable songs is a long one. A few years ago, Rolling Stone magazine published its list of the 100 best Dylan songs; my personal favourite (Lay Down Your Weary Tune) didn’t even make the list.
Three hundred million dollars. Was this a good deal for Universal? It seems like—it is—a hefty sum. But by way of comparison Stevie Nicks, of Fleetwood Mac fame, sold her songs a few years ago for a reported $100 million. With all due respect to Ms. Nicks, Mr. Dylan’s intellectual property seems like a bargain for Universal Music at three times the amount she was paid. Bob Dylan has a Nobel Prize and a Pulitzer Prize on his resume, so there is a certain cachet to being the custodian of his work. When you look at it from the standpoint of return on investment, Mr. Dylan was already earning royalties of some $15 million a year from others performing his work. So Universal has bought itself an all but guaranteed five per cent return. And that return could be pushed higher if Universal created more marketing opportunities for the songs. Who wouldn’t want to have their anti-aging cream hawked to the strains of Forever Young? What self-deprecating VIA rail marketing executive would not be delighted to market its Toronto to Montreal service to the sound of Slow Train Coming? Remember, there are 600 songs to choose from, so the marketing possibilities are vast.
Let’s not lose any sleep worrying about Mr. Dylan. Most songwriters, myself included, would be happy to take, in exchange for their entire inventories, one three-hundredth of what Mr. Dylan received for his.
What is Mr, Dylan going to do with all his newfound money? At 79, he is going to have a hard time spending it all. Maybe he doesn’t have a plan for it. Maybe he saw the sale as a banal piece of estate planning—a sort of safe housekeeping measure to spigot all his music into one place and spare his heirs from the messy job of dealing with his intellectual property.
But that doesn’t sound like the Bob Dylan I know—the young iconoclast who shook up the folk music world in the early 1960s. Methinks he has got something bigger up his sleeve—some application of those heaps of millions that will make an impact.
Here is where matters start to get interesting. We have heard rumours that Bob Dylan’s dream is to open a theme park. Walt Disney had Disneyland. Dolly Parton had her Dollywood. So why shouldn’t Mr. Dylan build his “Bobbywood”?
Just like the life-sized Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters found at Disneyland, characters from his songs could wander the park and have their pictures taken with visitors. There are plenty of them to choose from, like the Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, the Girl from the North Country, Absolutely Sweet Marie, Queen Jane Approximately and Rainy. Day Women #12 and 35. There could be thrill rides, such as the All Along the Watchtower Plunge and the It’s All Right Ma I’m Only Bleeding Roller Coaster. A beer garden, with waitstaff in lederhosen, could serve massive overflowing flagons of suds while everyone joined singing such party favourites as Subterranean Homesick Blues and Oxford Town. A concert stage could host re-creation of memorable events such as the night he went electric and got Pete Seeger hopping mad. Souvenirs, such as Leopard Skin Pill Box hats and Blowing In the Wind bubbles, could be sold to adults and children alike.
Where will Bobbywood be located? Hibbing, Minnesota is where Mr, Dylan hails from. But he has never shown an interest in going back there. Greenwich Village? Not enough space. Woodstock, New York? Its fame already lies with its eponymous 1969 festival, Perhaps Mr. Dylan will conduct himself like Amazon and invite cash incentive bids from around the world. If so, the County should seriously consider putting in a bid. Mr. Dylan could hunker down in Wellington on the Lake, and emerge briefly to give one of the Lions Club Tuesday night concerts with free hot dogs and pop. It would certainly give the post-Covid world in the County a shot in the arm.
It’s just a thought. Most likely he’ll go his way and we’ll go ours.
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