There is an interesting article in the Financial Times re: Music Publishing. It mentions Primary Wave.

One cannot access the link if not a subscriber but for those who are here is the link:

I included several paragraphs in quotes.

https://www.ft.com/content/71c2be62-b823-47d9-9f43-ab322883aa8c.

From Bob Dylan to Blondie — why investors are buying up hit songs

"Record companies are also getting in on the act. Earlier this week, Universal Music Group acquired Bob Dylan’s entire catalogue, stretching back six decades, for a nine-figure sum. “A lot of musicians will have no idea how rich they now are,” says Hartwig Masuch, chief executive of music company BMG.

"Take Fleetwood Mac’s song “Dreams”. It first hit the top of the charts in 1977 but then faded compared with other numbers on the classic Rumours album. Yet the song has been reborn in the digital age, re-entering the US charts in 2018 after a video Twitter video that used it went viral, and then again last month, when videos based on the song and shared on TikTok triggered a new wave of mass popularity. Stevie Nicks, who wrote it, told CBS that the sudden resurgence of the old hit had “blown my mind” and posted her own TikTok video of “Dreams” too. Nicks has capitalised by selling her publishing rights to Primary Wave."

“Great, proven songs have predictable, reliable income. It is better than gold or oil,” he argues, comparing the steady rise in the value of music with assets whose value can swing wildly depending on world events. The comparison forms the basis of Hipgnosis’s business model and, Mercuriadis says, explains record companies’ stock market struggles in the past.

[Edited 1/1/21 11:39am]

For alot of bands of legend status, touring obviously is a no go, and will be at least for another year or so at least. So selling off rights is their only paychecks and its more reliable because the streaming checks are BS for them, and they are criminal for lower artists.