On Monday, the Universal Music Publishing Group announced that it had signed a landmark deal to purchase Dylan’s entire songwriting catalog — including world-changing classics like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and “Like a Rolling Stone” — in what may be the biggest acquisition ever of the music publishing rights of a single act.
The deal, which covers Dylan’s entire career, from his earliest songs to the tunes on his latest album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,”was struck directly with Dylan, 79, who has long controlled the majority of his own songwriting copyrights.