Bruce Springsteen sells back catalogue masters to Sony for reported $500 million

Bruce Springsteen has apparently signed over his entire back catalogue of masters and their publishing to Sony for a reported $500 million (£376 million). 

The sale represents the entirety of the Boss' 50 year career in music and including classic albums like Born In The USA, Nebraska and Darkness on the Edge of Town, which helped to re-define American rock music in the 70s and 80s.

Billboard reports that Springsteen's catalogue comprises 300 songs, 20 studio albums, 23 live LPs, 7 EPs, and more. 

For the span of his recording career, Springsteen has released his music through Sony imprint Columbia, so the sale makes sense in purely pragmatic terms. His publishing catalogue rights were previously held by Universal.

MORE: The Boss' Official Charts history in full

This is not an isolated incident, however. The Boss is just the latest in a line of living music legends who have begun to sell the rights away to their life's work to ensure their survival in the coming decades.

Earlier this year, Tina Turner's back catalogue was sold to BMG for an undisclosed amount, which was apparently the largest sum paid by the label for the work of a single artist.

And in 2020, Bob Dylan's masters were sold to UMG for £225 million. Madonna also recently sold her entire back catalogue of music to old label Warner, ahead of a career-spanning re-release schedule, set to begin next year.

The topic of artists having control of their master recordings was brought to the forefront of many music industry discussions since the controversial selling of Taylor Swift's by her old record label Big Machine to talent manager Scooter Braun in 2019 (although Braun has apparently sold his stake in the masters to a private holding firm for $300 million).

The move was controversial enough that Taylor began the process of re-recording the six albums she released under her first record deal. Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) both hit Number 1 upon release, and re-recordings of Taylor Swift, Speak Now, 1989 and Reputation have yet to arrive.

As for Springsteen, The Boss has amassed a total of 12 UK Number 1 albums, his most recent being last year's Letter For You. With it, he became the first credited solo artist to have a Number 1 album in five consecutive decades, topping the charts in the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s and 20s. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, David Gilmour and Paul Weller have also achieved the feat, but only when including their work in groups alongside their solo material.