American singer-songwriter Paul Simon has sold all his songs to Sony Music Publishing for an undisclosed sum.
Sony Music, part of the Sony Music Group owned by Sony Entertainment, said Thursday it had agreed to buy Simon's catalog - which includes American classics such as "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Graceland," and "Still Crazy After All These Years."
Simon - a 16-time Grammy Award winner - retired in 2018. Simon said in a statement he was pleased with the deal. The 79-year-old, multiawarded singer is the latest musician to sell their life's work to a music publisher.
Artists such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks and Carole Bayer Sager have signed similar deals over the past year.
In December, Universal Music Group paid a reported $300 million for Bob Dylan's 600-song-catalog.
Analysts at London-based Hipgnosis said the deals could be attributed to the increased popularity of music streaming services - particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. Apart from reaping royalties from streaming services, publishing companies can earn money when the songs they own are used in movies, commercials and branding deals.
Simon is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame, a position in Rolling Stone's 100 greatest guitarists and a recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
Simon's career spans more than six decades. He started in the late 1950s as a folk singer with his friend Art Garfunkel. Simon and Garfunkel wrote hits such as "The Sound of Silence," "The Boxer," and "Mrs. Robinson" before they split up.
Simon embarked on a solo career and released hit albums.
