California, US: The most popular American pop singer Justin Bieber has sold his music publishing and recording catalogue shares to the Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital for $ 200 million marking the industry’s latest blockbuster rights deal.
The 28-year-old singer joins a who’s who of artists who have recently made money off of their catalogues because of the sale, which has been rumoured for weeks. Now Hipgnosis will get compensated each time a song that contains a part of their music is played in public.
The company, a $1 billion venture between the financial giant Blackstone and the British Hipgnosis Song Management, now owns the publishing rights to Bieber’s 290-song back catalogue. All of his songs that were released prior to December 31, 2021, as well as his writer’s share, are included. The agreement also stipulated the purchase of the superstar’s artist rights to his master recordings.
Music funds are increasingly buying holdings in artists’ works, including Justin Timberlake and Shakira, who have agreements with Hipgnosis as well. However, older artists are more likely to follow the trend. Both Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have sold back catalogue rights to Sony in the past two years.
Younger catalogues are generally considered to be riskier, yet Bieber is one of the best-selling artists of all time, and Hipgnosis now has a part in some of the biggest successes of the twenty-first century, including Sorry and Baby.