What David Bowie got right about the future of the music industry

It turns out Bowie's capacity for groundbreaking even extended into the arena of economics

David Bowie appeared on the Brixton Pounds note.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)

David Bowie went down swinging: The shape-shifting musician died this past Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday, which he celebrated by releasing a collaboration with a jazz quintet — his 25th studio album.

And it turns out Bowie's capacity for groundbreaking even extended into the arena of economics. In 1997, he pioneered the idea of using his future royalty payments as backing for financial securities that could be sold on the markets to investors. The so-called "Bowie bonds" themselves didn't work out too well. But the idea of turning the streams of royalty payments from intellectual property rights into a financial security took off in film rights, comic strips, pharmaceuticals, restaurant franchises, and more. Such oddball securities now make up 21 percent of the U.S. market for asset-backed insurance.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.