I just read that Sony bought the rights to Pink Floyd’s catalog for something like $400 million. They also bought Bruce Springsteen’s catalog for around $500 million. That’s close to $1 billion for just two artists. There’s a whole bunch of other artists who are also getting bought out which brings the grand total to billions of dollars.
How are these companies getting the money to pay these crazy sums?
What is their plan to make that money back? Commercials and film placement?
Seems like you’d have to wait a veeeery long time to recoup these investments.
In: Economics
Sony is a massive company that brought in over 80 billion last year. That’s just one year. They could easily afford a billion dollar investment.
Second, copyright lasts a crazy long time, 70 years after the death of the artist. Springsteen might not be young, but he’s still alive.
Streaming, album sales, and licensing only needs to cover 10 million a year to “break even.” Music by these major artists is used all the time, for thousands of dollars in fees.
Sony might also not expect to retain the rights for the entire duration. Maybe they feel that they can pay 1billy today, make 100mil over 20 years, then either sell it for a profit, or at a loss smaller than the gains.
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