Sony Music Publishing has acquired a bona fide treasure: the catalog of archetypal singer/songwriter Paul Simon, who’s been plying his trade with consistent brilliance for more than six decades.
Thus, “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Boxer,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “Homeward Bound,” “I Am a Rock,” “America” and myriad other indelible songs from his Simon & Garfunkel years have a new home, as have such solo standards as “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” “Graceland,” “Late in the Evening,” Kodachrome” and “So Beautiful or So What.” The money that changed hands hasn’t been disclosed, but this is a big deal in a much larger sense.
The principals in this historic transaction fashioned quotes for the occasion.
Simon: “I’m pleased to have Sony Music Publishing be the custodian of my songs for the coming decades. I began my career at Columbia/Sony Records, and it feels like a natural extension to be working with the publishing side as well.”
SMP Chairman/CEO Jon Platt: “Paul Simon is a masterful, once-in-a-lifetime songwriter whose remarkable body of work has generated an enduring influence on our culture and consciousness. From Simon & Garfunkel standards like ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ to solo classics such as ‘Graceland,’ Paul Simon’s music resonates deeply as a cultural touchstone for people all over the world. To represent his indelible songs is an incredible honor for Sony Music Publishing, so with tremendous pride, I welcome Paul to our family!”
Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer: “We are truly honored to now represent the music-publishing catalog of Paul Simon. To be entrusted with his songs and recorded music is a privilege of the highest artistic order for the Sony Music Group worldwide.”
The deal was handled on the Sony side by Bruce Scavuzzo of Davis Shapiro Lewit & Grabel, LLP.
Simon’s sprawling body of work is now part of a treasure chest of culture-defining catalogs under the Sony Music Publishing umbrella, including those of The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Carole King, Lieber & Stoller, Michael Jackson, Motown, Queen, Ashford & Simpson and Stevie Wonder.
