Bob Dylan‘s music catalog from his contributions to the super group the Traveling Wilburys has been acquired by the Primary Wave Music company, Variety revealed in an exclusive report.
According to the outlet, the deal includes Dylan’s “master royalties and neighboring rights royalties” for both of the band’s albums — 1988’s Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and 1990’s Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 — as well as the 2007 box set The Traveling Wilburys Collection.
Traveling Wilburys initially consisted of Dylan, ex-Beatles guitarist George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne. Orbison died of a heart attack shortly after the release of the debut album, which featured the classic songs “Handle with Care” and “The End of the Line,” and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200.
The group continued as a quartet and released one more album, Vol. 3, which reached #11 on the Billboard 200. The box set featured both albums, plus bonus tracks, as well as a DVD. Dylan is credited with co-writing all of the Wilburys’ original tunes along with the group’s other members.
During the past two years, Dylan has sold his recorded-music catalog and publishing rights, respectively, to Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, respectively, for nine figures each. As Variety points out, “most people probably did not realize” that the folk-rock legend’s Traveling Wilburys catalog was included in those deals.
Primary Wave Music executive Samantha Rhulen said in a statement, “To acquire even a small portion of Bob Dylan’s work as part of Traveling Wilburys is exciting, to say the least. We’re honored to add this bit of history to our growing music catalog.”
Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.
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