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Somehow Neil Young (the guy who bought a model train company for funsies) and a host of his ostensibly-principled contemporaries all decided recently that they needed more money by selling their catalogs, so I would hazard against assuming anyone is immune to the temptations of more money.

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Well, why not? Neil Young is 76, Sting is 70, Bob Dylan is 80. At that point it's better to just sell the catalogue for an enormous amount of money to do things with.

Because despite all the problems, there is at least a glimmer of a hope that an artist's estate will act in the interest of preserving their patron's legacy.

GabeN's personal financial stake in Valve likely realizes much more in the way of a) cashflow and b) control than any rocker's relationship with their catalogs.

Newell isn't the ageing rocker, smarting over the unfairness of the contract, he's the old-school cigar-chomping record executive, deigning to allow others to enrich him with their art. If he wants more money, he's just got to wait around for a bit. It'll arrive presently.

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