Suddenly, Bob Dylan is everywhere.
In the last two years, the reclusive singer/songwriter has morphed into Mr. Accessible – appearing in a commercial for Victoria’s Secret, hosting a show on XM Satellite Radio, writing the first volume of his autobiography and cooperating on the Martin Scorsese flick “No Direction Home.”
And just last week, Dylan agreed to team up with Twyla Tharp for the Broadway musical, “Bringing it All Back Home.”
While Dylan has always loomed large over popular culture, his willingness to cultivate the spotlight represents a marked departure from a career spent shying away from attention. And in so doing, the 65-year-old Dylan is not only repackaging himself for a new generation, but also pioneering how to be a popular artist well past middle age.
“Dylan’s always been very aware of the business and publicity side of music,” said Fred Goodman, whose book, “Mansion on the Hill,” features the musician prominently.
“What’s impressive is the amount of stuff he’s doing and how he’s able to find unique ways to get his name out there, because releasing albums doesn’t do it for older artists nowadays,” Goodman added.
It should come as no surprise then that Dylan’s commercial embrace dovetails with the August 29 release of “Modern Times,” his first new album in five years, one of the longest spans between releases in Dylan’s recording career.
Though Dylan has sold more than 30 million albums, he is by no means a top-selling artist – consider that “Modern Times” will be his 44th release.
With his last two albums, “Time Out of Mind” and “Love and Theft,” failing to go platinum and his digital track record unimpressive – just 1.7 million Dylan tracks have been downloaded, according to Nielsen SoundScan – perhaps it is not surprising, that the rocker is all about the publicity lately.
“Rock-and-roll has always been a commercial artform, it’s the genetic code of the genre,” said music industry veteran Danny Goldberg. “And Dylan has never passed himself off as a starving artist.”
But, as Goldberg noted, “[Dylan] has always communicated with his fans on his own terms. Nothing he has done has ever felt reactive.”