Neil Diamond sells an entire catalog of Universal Music

Bob Dylan. Bruce Springsteen. Paul Simon. Neil Young. Stevie Nicks. They’ve all sold their music catalogs over the past year and a half for huge sums, part of it wide transmission From the music ownership of a generation of artists to corporations and investors. But is there any big game left?

One giant was hiding in plain sight: Neil Diamond, 81, is the singer-songwriter for ubiquitous hits like “Sweet Caroline,” “Song Song Blue,” and “Cracklin’s Rosie.” Universal Music group announced Monday that it has acquired a catalog The star’s full songwriting, as well as the rights to his recordings.The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Diamond’s work as a songwriter is particularly valuable, not only for his own recordings but also for several cover versions of his songs that became hits for other artists, such as “I’m a Believer” by The Monkees, “Red Wine” for his songs UB40 version and Urge Overkill for “Girl, you’ll be a woman soonOn the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

The 1977 song “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” written by Diamond with Marilyn and Alan Bergman, had a notable double life. After Diamond’s solo release, it was covered by Barbra Streisand in 1978, and radio DJs put together a duet from these two recordings; An official edit was released later that year and went to #1.

in 2018, announced diamond He had Parkinson’s disease and was retiring from travelling.

The Universal Recordings Diamond 110 deal includes an unreleased soundtrack, an unreleased album, and archival videos. The company will also release any new music that Diamond records, according to its announcement.

Like Universal’s recent acquisition of Songwriting and recording rights to Sting — or Springsteen’s Sony deal — The Diamond deal unites both sides of the iconic artist’s work with one company. The copyrights to recordings and songwriting, otherwise known as music publishing—which covers song lyrics, melodies, and the basic structural elements of any piece of music—are separate.

In a statement, Diamond praised Universal’s leaders, including its CEO, Lucien Grange, and said he was confident the company “will continue to represent my catalog and future releases with the same passion and integrity that have always fueled my career.”