紐時賞析／工人皇帝5.5億美元進帳 音樂版權的輝煌年代

A $550 Million Springsteen Deal? It’s Glory Days for Catalog Sales.

工人皇帝5.5億美元進帳 音樂版權的輝煌年代

In 1972, a struggling New Jersey musician hustled into Manhattan for an

audition at Columbia Records, using an acoustic guitar borrowed from his

former drummer.

1972年，一位還在力爭上游的新澤西樂手匆匆忙忙趕到曼哈頓參加哥倫比亞唱片公司的試唱，使用的是一把向他之前的鼓手借來的民謠吉他。

“I had to haul it ‘Midnight Cowboy’-style over my shoulder on the bus and

through the streets of the city,” the rocker, Bruce Springsteen, later

recalled in his memoirs.

搖滾歌手布魯斯史普林斯汀後來在回憶錄中描述這段往事：「在公車上，我不得不像《午夜牛郎》那樣將吉他扛在肩上，穿過城市的街道。」

Half a century later, he can afford plenty of guitars. Last month Sony,

which now owns Columbia, announced that it acquired Springsteen’s entire

body of work — his recordings and his songwriting catalog — for what two

people briefed on the deal said was about $550 million.

半世紀後，他買得起很多吉他。擁有哥倫比亞的索尼音樂上個月宣布，收購史普林斯汀的全部作品，他的唱片和創作曲目。兩位知情人士透露，這樁交易的價格約為5.5億美元。

The price, which may be the richest ever paid for the work of a single

musician, caused jaws to drop throughout the music industry. But it was

only the latest mega-transaction in a year in which many prominent

artists’ catalogs have been sold, fetching eye-popping prices.

這可能是有史以來向單一音樂家作品支付的最高價格，讓整個音樂產業大吃一驚，但這只是一年中許多知名藝人出售歌曲曲目的最新一樁大型交易，獲得的價格令人咋舌。

The catalog market was already bubbling a year ago when Bob Dylan sold

his songwriting rights for more than $300 million, but since then it

has maintained a steady boil. The list of major artists who have recently

sold their work, in full or in part, includes Paul Simon, Neil Young,

Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner, Mötley Crüe, Shakira and the Red Hot Chili

Peppers, many for eight-figure payouts or more. The industry is abuzz

about impending deals for Sting and the songwriting catalog of David

Bowie.

一年前，當巴布狄倫以超過3億美元價格賣出他的創作權時，音樂曲目市場已開始出現榮景，此後熱度一直不減。最近將作品全部售出或部分售出的主要藝人名單包括保羅賽門、尼爾楊、史蒂薇妮克絲、蒂娜透納、克魯小丑樂團、夏奇拉及嗆辣紅椒樂團，很多價格都高達八位數或是更多。業界正對史汀和大衛鮑伊歌曲的創作目錄即將達成的協議金額議論紛紛。

“Almost everything now is transacting,” said Barry M. Massarsky, an

economist who specializes in calculating the value of music catalogs

on behalf of investors. “In the last year alone, we did 300 valuations

worth over $6.5 billion,” he added.

專門為投資者計算音樂曲目價值的經濟學家巴瑞．馬薩斯基說：「現在幾乎所有東西都在進行交易。光是去年一年，我們就進行了300筆估價，總值超過65億美元。」

Not long ago, music was seen as a collapsing business, with rampant

piracy and declining sales. No longer.

不久前，由於盜版猖獗和銷量下滑，音樂被視為一個崩潰中的產業；現在情況不再是這樣。

Streaming and the global growth of subscription services like Spotify,

Apple Music and YouTube have turned the industry’s fortunes around.

One result is a spike in the pricing of catalogs of music rights to

both recordings and to the songs themselves.

串流服務與Spotify、Apple Music和YouTube等全球訂閱服務成長，已經扭轉該產業的命運，結果使得唱片和歌曲本身的音樂版權曲目價格飆漲。

New investors, including private equity firms, have poured billions of

dollars into the market, viewing music royalties as a kind of safe

commodity — an investment, somewhat like real estate, with predictable

rates of return and relatively low risk.

包括私募股權公司在內的新投資者，已經向這個市場投入數十億美元，他們將音樂版稅視為一種安全商品，有點像投資房地產，投資報酬率在意料中且風險相對較低。

文／Ben Sisario 譯／陳韋廷

說文解字看新聞

【陳韋廷】

西洋音樂市場正經歷一場前所未有的音樂版權收購熱潮，美國藍領階級搖滾樂代表，有「工人皇帝」之稱的布魯斯史普林斯汀是搭上這波出售版權潮流的最新一位音樂巨星。報導標題中的Glory Days正好是他1984年專輯Born In The U.S.A.的單曲名稱，一語雙關。

Acquire指的是「收購」，是財經英文新聞常見單字，名詞acquisition，「併購」的英文則是mergers and acquisitions (M&A) 。

Audition意指演員、樂手、舞蹈演員等的試鏡；試奏；試唱。Songwriting是「歌曲創作」，創作型歌手的英文則是singer-songwriter，表示「版稅」的royalties常以複數形式出現，

Someone's jaw drops (open)與cause jaws to drop都是「令人震驚」的意思，形容詞是jaw-dropping，與文中的eye-popping意思相同；倒數第二段片語turn sth around指「使某事好轉；使有起色」。