In a new interview with Billboard, Bryan "Dexter" Holland spoke about THE OFFSPRING's 2016 decision to sell the rights to the band's entire catalog of Columbia Records master recordings and the publishing rights for all its songs to Round Hill Music, with the New York-based company paying $35 million. Asked if he is still happy with that decision, especially in light of the fact that there is a wave of artists selling their catalogs right now, Dexter said: "It certainly does seem to be fashionable now, huh? Or happening more often. In our case, we were very fortunate that when we signed to Sony, our records were licensed, so we technically owned them and knew they would come back to us after the delivery of our last album. We finished a seven-album deal with Sony — actually finished it! — and were just free agents. So after a few years we thought, what do we do here? At the end of the day, we just decided to sell it. I'm glad we did it, and Round Hill was the right partner to go with. And the great thing about being in a band is you can always make new songs." THE OFFSPRING sold the recorded masters for the six albums it made for Columbia Records, along with the publishing rights to the songs on all nine of its studio efforts. The master recordings for the band's first three albums remain with Epitaph, the label that originally released them. Among the Epitaph albums is 1994's "Smash", the breakout blockbuster that sold more than six million copies in the U.S. and featured the hits "Come Out And Play", "Self-Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away". Included in the Columbia catalog are 1997's "Ixnay On The Hombre", which sold 1.4 million copies, 1998's "Americana", which moved five million, and 2000's platinum-selling "Conspiracy Of One". THE OFFSPRING reportedly sold a total of 17 million copies of its first nine albums. At the time of the catalog sale, Holland said in a statement: "We felt that having the right caretaker for our catalog, both the masters and the publishing, is incredibly important to the future of our career." Round Hill Music chairman/CEO Josh Gruss said about the acquisition: "You won't get a more high-quality catalog than THE OFFSPRING. Also, we didn't have some American punk rock in our publishing portfolio, and this acquisitions helps broaden the genre representation." THE OFFSPRING's tenth studio album, "Let The Bad Times Roll", arrived on April 16 via Concord Records. The follow-up to 2012's "Days Go By" was once again produced by Bob Rock, who also worked on the previous two LPs. Holland, guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, drummer Pete Parada and new bassist Todd Morse wrote and recorded "Let The Bad Times Roll" in the last few years at various locations, including the band's studio in Huntington Beach, California. Photo credit: Daveed Benito
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