In one of the largest acquisitions of a single act’s publishing rights, Bob Dylan’s cashing in, headed down Highway 61 with a trunkfull of cash. Six hundred songs, three hundred million dollars, and let’s Don’t Look Back.

(Sorry folks I can’t resist. With 600 songs, we could probably do the entire article in titles alone, never mind quoting the lyrics.)

Anyway, cashing out at 79 on six decades of writing doesn’t seem like a bad idea to me, especially at half a million a song. Suspicious minds hope that Dylan’s health is good.

At this point, it’s unclear whether royalties for covers go to UMusic or Dylan, but I’m guessing Dylan, and he might still have a few good tunes in his head, and those will be his.

All told, a good day for the music business—both buyer and seller.  Here in Upstate New York, WDST [Radio Woodstock, home of Big Pink and lots of Dylan history] is playing tons of Dylan, and…ka-ching, supporting Universal.