Summary: Every week it seems another aging artist is selling off their music publishing rights for exorbitant amounts. Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, ZZ Top, David Bowie’s estate and recently Bruce Springsteen. Why are so many back catalogs for sale and are they really worth hundreds of millions of dollars? <a href="https://twitter.com/RFaughnder" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ryan Faughnder</a>, a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times discusses his latest article which tackles this very issue. <br> Meanwhile, streaming numbers for television shows, series, and movies for the last few weeks of 2021 were finally published. The top ten original programs were dominated by Netflix, which might be why they decided to “update” their pricing. Translation; they are raising prices, at least in North America.<br> Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why the British government is freezing funding for the BBC, Spotify shutters its podcasting studio and this year’s SAG Awards nominations.<br> <br> <br> Music Catalogs Are Fetching Huge deals. Are They Overvalued?<br> <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-01-15/music-catalogs-deals-bruce-springsteen-john-legend-bob-dylan-songwriters-streaming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-01-15/music-catalogs-deals-bruce-springsteen-john-legend-bob-dylan-songwriters-streaming</a><br> Letterboxd<br> <a href="https://letterboxd.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://letterboxd.com/</a><br> Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Tops $1.6B WW & Becomes Biggest Movie Ever In Mexico; ‘Scream’ Shouts With $49M Global Bow<br> <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/01/spider-man-no-way-home-scream-matrix-china-global-international-box-office-1234913557/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://deadline.com/2022/01/spider-man-no-way-home-scream-matrix-china-global-international-box-office-1234913557/</a><br> Box Office: ‘Scream’ Debuts to Bloody Impressive $30.6 Million<br> <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/box-office-scream-results-spider-man-no-way-home-1235155422/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/box-office-scream-results-spider-man-no-way-home-1235155422/</a><br> Broadway Box Office Stays Flat At $18.5 Million With Attendance At 66% Of Capacity<br> <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/01/broadway-box-office-january-16-18-5-million-attendance-66-of-capacity-1234914722/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://deadline.com/2022/01/broadway-box-office-january-16-18-5-million-attendance-66-of-capacity-1234914722/</a><br> The Undoing of Joss Whedon<br> <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/joss-whedon-allegations.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.vulture.com/article/joss-whedon-allegations.html</a><br> TV Ratings: Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Drew 2.2 Billion Viewing Minutes During Season 2’s Debut Week<br> <a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/the-witcher-netflix-season-2-nielsen-ratings-1235153818/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/the-witcher-netflix-season-2-nielsen-ratings-1235153818/</a><br> Podcasting Hasn’t Produced A Hit In Years<br> <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-01-09/podcasting-hasn-t-produced-a-new-hit-in-years" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-01-09/podcasting-hasn-t-produced-a-new-hit-in-years</a><br> Prince’s Estate Valued at $156.4 Million — Almost Double an Earlier Appraisal<br> <a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/prince-estate-valued-156-million-1235155577/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://variety.com/2022/music/news/prince-estate-valued-156-million-1235155577/</a><br> Ralph Emery, Country Music Broadcaster and Hall of Fame Member,
