Jacques Levy’s wife and publisher, who co-wrote several songs on Bob Dylan’s 1976 album Desire, are suing the composer for $ 7.25 million (£ 5.25 million) after the catalog’s recent sale of Dylan’s compositions for Universal Music. The deal was valued at $ 300 million (£ 217.3 million).
Levy’s lawsuit claims that Dylan owes Levy’s family 35% of the proceeds from the long narrative songs he co-wrote for Desire – Hurricane, Isis, Mozambique; Oh, sister; Joey, Romance in Durango and Black Diamond Bay – and said Dylan’s associates “refused to forward the [Levy’s family] its legitimate part of the revenue and / or revenue earned from the sale by catalog with respect to the compositions ”.
Dylan’s lawyer, Orin Snyder, told Pitchfork that the lawsuit was “a sad attempt to profit unfairly from the recent catalog sale. The plaintiffs received all that was due to them. We are confident that we will win. And when we do, we will hold the plaintiffs and their lawyers responsible for bringing this case without merit. “
Dylan met Levy in the spring of 1974. They met the following year, beginning their collaboration with the song Isis. After periodic writing sessions, they completed work on Desire during a three-week stay in the New York Hamptons. Released in January 1976, the album received a mixed reception.
The sale of Dylan’s catalog to Universal is considered the largest acquisition of compositional rights by a single composer. The sale came amid a flood of high-profile artists selling or partially selling the rights to their music, including Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Shakira.
Many artists sold their catalogs to the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a British investment company owned by Merck Mercuriadis. Industry analysts say legacy catalogs of legacy artists offer a stable and reliable investment and, for artists in their later years, it may be easier to leave a fixed amount for the heirs than a composition property.