đ The most expensive thing last night was a song from 52 years ago
Cathy Musgraves sang âI Will Always Love Youâ at the MTV awards show on Sunday. Dolly Partonâs old classic, written in 1973 and released in 1974. She died in Nashville on August 25 at age 80.
First, put the numbers on the table. CBS and MTV together drew 8.43 million viewers, up 51% from 5.6 million in the same slot last year, the highest performance since 2015. CBS alone took 90%, with 7.61 million. The opening segment featuring Madonna hit a peak of more than 15 million people. The numbers come from Paramountâs official press release, and match the same references across Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vulture.
That night, Madonna won seven awards, including Entertainer of the Year. Taylor Swift won Video of the Year, continuing to add to her âmost awards everâ record.
But whatâs really worth looking at is the money behind that song.
In 1974, Elvis Presley wanted to record it. The condition his manager, Colonel Parker, set was that the songwriting and publishing copyrights be split 50/50. Parton didnât agree, and Elvis passed on it. Eighteen years later, Whitney Houston covered it and went globalâexploding in popularity. One estimate says that cover alone brought in about $10 million for her, and after that, she kept getting paid for every play and every cover.
What she holds is the layer of publishing rights. The registering entity used her own companyâOwe-Par and Velvet Apple Musicâstarted in the 1960s together with her uncle, Bill Owens, and now run by her cousin Richie Owens. Billboard calculated that, combining publishing and recordings, she brings in about $17.5 million per year. How much the entire catalog is worth varies widely by source: Forbes in 2025 put it at $120 million, while Billboardâs more recent figure is $220 million. In 2021, she considered selling, but it never happened.
The chainâs plans in recent years are, in essence, to turn this kind of revenue-sharing stream into assets that can be held and settled. What Parton did was the most basic stepâshe only recognizes herself as the registering party. Look at the other side for clarity: this February, Britney Spears sold her entire music catalog to Primary Wave for about $200 millionâgetting cash up front, while the income stream for the coming decades goes to someone else. Both sets of books are for the same underlying thing.
The difference can be said in one line: Are you the holder, or the holder of the receipt?
When I wrote this, there were four quote sources: BTC $82,994 to $83,065, down 0.2% over 24 hours. ETH $2,661 to $2,665, up 0.5% to 0.7%.
The next signal is who the catalog belongs to. Who will take over Partonâs estate is something international media has been chasing these past few days; the Tennessean says it hasnât been made public yet. If it truly goes on the shelf, it will be this yearâs best reference price in the music rights market.
$BTC $ETH
#äžæŹèȘćœé 瀟ćșBaoluoćžćè”æŹ #éłäčçæ #RWA
Cathy Musgraves sang âI Will Always Love Youâ at the MTV awards show on Sunday. Dolly Partonâs old classic, written in 1973 and released in 1974. She died in Nashville on August 25 at age 80.
First, put the numbers on the table. CBS and MTV together drew 8.43 million viewers, up 51% from 5.6 million in the same slot last year, the highest performance since 2015. CBS alone took 90%, with 7.61 million. The opening segment featuring Madonna hit a peak of more than 15 million people. The numbers come from Paramountâs official press release, and match the same references across Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vulture.
That night, Madonna won seven awards, including Entertainer of the Year. Taylor Swift won Video of the Year, continuing to add to her âmost awards everâ record.
But whatâs really worth looking at is the money behind that song.
In 1974, Elvis Presley wanted to record it. The condition his manager, Colonel Parker, set was that the songwriting and publishing copyrights be split 50/50. Parton didnât agree, and Elvis passed on it. Eighteen years later, Whitney Houston covered it and went globalâexploding in popularity. One estimate says that cover alone brought in about $10 million for her, and after that, she kept getting paid for every play and every cover.
What she holds is the layer of publishing rights. The registering entity used her own companyâOwe-Par and Velvet Apple Musicâstarted in the 1960s together with her uncle, Bill Owens, and now run by her cousin Richie Owens. Billboard calculated that, combining publishing and recordings, she brings in about $17.5 million per year. How much the entire catalog is worth varies widely by source: Forbes in 2025 put it at $120 million, while Billboardâs more recent figure is $220 million. In 2021, she considered selling, but it never happened.
The chainâs plans in recent years are, in essence, to turn this kind of revenue-sharing stream into assets that can be held and settled. What Parton did was the most basic stepâshe only recognizes herself as the registering party. Look at the other side for clarity: this February, Britney Spears sold her entire music catalog to Primary Wave for about $200 millionâgetting cash up front, while the income stream for the coming decades goes to someone else. Both sets of books are for the same underlying thing.
The difference can be said in one line: Are you the holder, or the holder of the receipt?
When I wrote this, there were four quote sources: BTC $82,994 to $83,065, down 0.2% over 24 hours. ETH $2,661 to $2,665, up 0.5% to 0.7%.
The next signal is who the catalog belongs to. Who will take over Partonâs estate is something international media has been chasing these past few days; the Tennessean says it hasnât been made public yet. If it truly goes on the shelf, it will be this yearâs best reference price in the music rights market.
$BTC $ETH
#äžæŹèȘćœé 瀟ćșBaoluoćžćè”æŹ #éłäčçæ #RWA
