Bob Dylan has apologized for employing a machine to replicate his signature on books and artwork since 2019 in a rare public statement.
The celebrity admitted that permitting the pieces to be sold as hand-signed was a “mistake of judgment” that he now regretted.
He claimed that in 2019 after experiencing vertigo, he began using an autopen.
Fans who purchased $600 limited-edition editions of Dylan’s book The Philosophy of Modern Song and examined images of his signature brought the problem to light.
Initial refund requests were denied by the publisher, Simon & Schuster, who assured customers that the signatures were authentic and supported by a “letter of authenticity.”
After sustained pressure, they acknowledged that the 900 “hand-signed” copies featured a “written facsimile” of the celebrity’s signature and gave full refunds to everyone who had purchased one.
Questions about Dylan’s artwork, prints of which can sell for up to $15,000 (£12,400), were also highlighted by the argument.
The singer-songwriter acknowledged that some of those had also been signed by a machine in a statement that was made public on Friday.
Over the years, “I’ve hand-signed every single art print, and there’s never been a problem,” he stated.
“However, in 2019 I experienced severe vertigo, which persisted throughout the epidemic years. We were unable to find a safe and practical way to finish what I needed to do while the infection was raging because it takes a staff of five working closely with me to enable these signing sessions.
Therefore, it was impossible to sign anything during the pandemic, and vertigo didn’t help. An auto-pen was suggested to me along with the promise that this kind of thing is done “all the time” in the art and literature worlds as I faced impending contractual deadlines.
“I made a mistake by using a machine, and I want to right that wrong right away. To do just that, I’m collaborating with Simon & Schuster and my gallery partners.
A UK art dealer named Castle Fine Art claimed to have been “completely uninformed of the usage of autopen” and that they sell reproductions of Dylan’s works.
It stated in a statement that only two collections, both of which were launched in 2022, were impacted. “Bob Dylan personally hand autographed each copy of the remaining publications.”
Owners of machine-signed prints will be given a complete refund. But they’ll be required to “exchange the present certificate of authenticity for one matching the autopen signature,” the request reads.
The autopen, which allowed a machine to copy a person’s signature as they wrote, was originally patented in the USA in 1803. Early supporters of the system included US president Thomas Jefferson, who bought two: one for the White House and the other for his home in Monticello.
The contemporary version doesn’t need the signer to be there because it stores a digital copy of their handwriting that a robot arm can copy.
The first person to use one to sign a statute into effect was President Obama, and the tool is now widely used in the worlds of art and writing.
Although his management issued a statement denying it, Van Morrison was recently accused of signing CDs using an autopen.
Sinead O’Connor acknowledged using the tool to sign her autobiography, explaining: “I was unable to hand write my name 10,000 times, which is how many I was requested to sign.
Although numerous stores pulled the autographed copies of O’Connor’s book from sale, the disputed items in both of these cases were selling for around £30, reducing the potential for outcry.
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