Bruce Springsteen’s $31m Sony deal revealed

Multi-million dollar recording contracts and eye-watering advances are now few and far between in today’s recorded music industry, which is why the news that Bruce Springsteen last year signed a lucrative $31 million deal with Sony Music (Showbiz411 reports), with a massive $13m advance is bound to make headlines.  

The deal is for the delivery of four new albums and the release of a number of box sets and greatest hits albums. 

Sony is undoubtedly counting on Springsteen’s huge, loyal fanbase and on the artists’ consistency in delivering great albums to make its money back. However, Springsteen is already 65 and will be knocking on 80 when this deal is over: Sony has to hope that the artist’s formidable stamina and work ethic mean that he won’t slow down for another decade.

Current trends in the pop industry make it near-impossible to promise $30m deals to stars that are popular today and could be forgotten in three years’ time. Even if Springsteen is a sound investment, the question mark remains as to how albums are going to be delivered and sold in ten years’ time and how many streams will Sony need to amass in order to make money from them.

For the foreseeable future at least this won't be a worry as Springsteen will continue to complement his digital revenues with healthy album sales: his latest effort “High Hopes” debuted at n.1 in nearly every major recorded music market in the world: the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. 

(Andrea Leonelli)