Justin Bieber sells rights to songs for $200m
Justin Bieber has reportedly sold his share of the rights to his music to Hipgnosis Songs Capital for $200m (£162m).
The firm now owns the pop star’s stake in some of the biggest hits of recent years, including Baby and Sorry.
One of the best-selling artists of the 21st century, Bieber joins a growing group of artists who have cashed in on their catalogs.
Bieber’s longtime manager, Scooter Braun, said, “Justin is truly the artist of a generation, and that is reflected and acknowledged by the magnitude of this deal.” “For 15 years, I have been witness to this journey and today, I am happy for everyone involved. Justin’s greatness has just begun.”
The move meant that Hipgnosis would receive payment for a song every time that part of it was played publicly.
The company – a $1 billion venture between financial giant Blackstone and British Hipgnosis Song Management – acquired the publishing copyrights to Bieber’s 290-song back catalog.
This includes all of his music – and his author’s portion – released before 31 December 2021.
The deal also secured Starr’s artist rights to her master recordings.
Justin Bieber sells rights to songs for $200m
Hipgnosis did not disclose the terms of the deal, but a source told AFP news agency it was worth around $200 million.
Artists, including Justin Timberlake and Shakira, are increasingly selling their work to music funds, which have also struck deals with Hipgnosis.
But this trend is more common among older artists. Music legends Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen sold back-catalog rights to Sony in the past two years.
Springsteen reportedly received $500m (£376m) from the sale of his lifetime work.
Bob Dylan sells his master recordings to Sony Music
Bruce Springsteen sold his music rights for $500 million
The Hipgnosis Songs Fund is building a catalog of hit songs and inviting large institutional investors to share in the proceeds.
The fund was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2018.
The man who set it up, Mark Merkyuridis, previously said that the hit songs could be “more valuable than gold or oil.”
He added that Bieber’s music was “arguably the definitive soundtrack of the streaming revolution,” with 13 songs that have each achieved over a billion streams on platforms such as YouTube and Spotify.
As his audience is still relatively young, he said, royalties will continue for “60 or 70 years”.
“The most beautiful thing about music is that when these songs become hits, they become part of the fabric of our lives and live on forever,” Merkuridis told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
However, the company’s share price has declined more than 27% since last year as investor interest has waned.
Justin Bieber sells rights to songs for $200m
Mercuridis called the stock price situation “disappointing” in December but said he was confident in the company’s long-term profitability.
“In the broader music market, people continue to listen to and pay for music despite the challenges of living today, with annual audio streams in the US passing the one trillion mark for the first time,” he added.
“All of these are exciting indicators for the further growth we will experience at Hipgnosis as income streams through the collection process.”
The company’s share price rose 1.6% following the announcement of the Justin Bieber deal.
As his audience is still relatively young, he added, royalties will continue to pour in for “60 or 70 years”.
“The beautiful thing about music is that when these songs become hits, they become part of the fabric of our lives and they live on forever,” Mercuriadis told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
However, as investor interest waned, the company’s share price has fallen by more than 27% since last year.
In December, Mercuriadis called the share price situation a “disappointment” but said he believed in the company’s long-term profitability.
“In the wider music market, people continue to listen to and pay for music irrespective of today’s cost of living challenges with annual audio streams in the US passing the one trillion mark for the first time,” he said.
“These are all exciting indicators for the further growth that we will experience as income flows through the collection process into Hipgnosis.”
The company’s share price rose by 1.6% after announcing the Justin Bieber deal.