Pop juggernaut Justin Bieber has sold his music publishing and record catalog to Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital for $200 million, the company said Tuesday – marking the industry’s latest blockbuster rights deal.
The sale has been rumored for weeks and sees the 28-year-old join an already cash-strapped artist in his catalogue.
$200 million
Hipgnosis has not publicly announced the deal, but a source close to the matter told AFP it was worth around $200 million.
Contemporary stars including Justin Timberlake and Shakira have sold large stakes in their work – both also have deals with Hipgnosis – but the move is mostly seen among legacy artists like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
The impressive sum – Springsteen’s catalog to Sony for a reported half a billion dollars – is considered a safe bet for old-time artists and investors who can count on consistent results from time-tested music and the durability of streaming.
The younger catalog seems to be cleaner territory, but Bieber is one of the best-selling artists, and now Hipgnosis has a part in some of the biggest hits of the 21st century including “Baby” and “Sorry.”
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Hipgnosis Songs Capital is a $1 billion venture between financial giant Blackstone and the UK’s Hipgnosis Songs Management.
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Hipgnosis said it acquired Bieber’s interest in publishing copyrights to his 290-song back catalog – all of his music released before December 31, 2021.
Bieber bieber front Universal will continue to manage the catalog, another source close to the deal said, and still owns the artist’s master record. Hipgnosis has acquired artist shares in their employers as well as neighboring rights – royalties that see their owners receive a payment every time a song is played publicly.
After the Canadian native was discovered on YouTube as a teenager, Bieber rose to global fame, selling more than 150 million records.
He has had eight number one records on Billboard’s top albums list, and his songs have been streamed on Spotify more than 32 billion times.
“Justin Bieber’s impact on global culture over the past 14 years has been extraordinary,” Hipgnosis chief Merck Mercuriadis, a longtime music industry executive, said in a statement.
“At just 28 years old, he is one of the artists who defined the streaming era that has revitalized the entire music industry, taking his loyal and worldwide audience on a journey from teenage phenomenon to important cultural artist.”
Bieber’s health has suffered recently, with the star going on an indefinite hiatus from touring after it was revealed he had been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, a rare complication of shingles that causes partial facial paralysis.
A profitable asset class
Music catalogs change hands all the time, but the current boom in publishing sales is accelerating, with financial markets increasingly turning to lucrative music portfolios as an asset class.
Hipgnosis Mercuriadis, which went public on the London Stock Exchange in 2018, played a big role in announcing the sales surge.
The sector seems to have cooled off recently, but the Bieber deal shows investors are still hungry for music acquisitions.
Song publishing rights owners receive a cut in a variety of scenarios, including radio play and streaming, album sales, and use in commercials and movies. Recording rights govern reproduction and distribution.
The sales crash comes amid a wider conversation about artist ownership of the work, fueled by Taylor Swift, who has had huge success when she re-recorded her first six albums in order to gain control of the master recording rights.
The move stems from Swift’s public feud with Scooter Braun, a music manager whose company once owned the original master, and later sold it to investment firm Shamrock Holdings.
Braun has been Bieber’s manager for 15 years, and in a statement said that “when Justin made the decision to make a catalog deal, we quickly found the best partners to preserve and develop this incredible legacy are Merck and Hipgnosis.”
“Justin is truly a once-in-a-generation artist and one that is reflected and recognized with the magnitude of this deal.”