Sony Music Publishing has acquired his “complete collection” in the latest blockbuster transaction in the music publishing business.
Paul Simon has sold his entire songwriting catalog — including classics like “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Sound of Silence” and “Still Crazy After All These Years” — to Sony Music Publishing, in the latest blockbuster transaction in the music publishing business. In its announcement of the deal on Wednesday, Sony gave few details, other than it was acquiring the “complete collection” of Simon’s compositions, including his work with Simon and Garfunkel and his solo material. The database of BMI, the performing rights organization that Simon is affiliated with, lists more than 400 titles under his name. Simon’s catalog includes some of the most popular songs of the last half-century. According to BMI, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” — first released by Simon and Garfunkel in 1970, and since then covered by artists including Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley — has had more than five million broadcast performances.
