Pop singer Justin Bieber sells song rights for a cool US$200 million
Pop singer Justin Bieber has reportedly sold his song rights for a cool US$200 million. Now, Hipgnosis Songs Capital will be the new owner of such international hits as “Baby” and “Sorry.” Agence France-Presse reported the sale amount, but Hipgnosis is staying tight-lipped for now. According to the BBC, the company has also acquired Bieber’s share of master recordings.
Such a transfer of ownership reportedly includes all of Bieber’s music that was released before December 31, 2021.
Bieber joins the other Justin (Timberlake) and Leonard Cohen who also inked deals with Hipgnosis Songs Capital. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen have also sold their song rights over the past two years to Sony. Springsteen reportedly sold his life’s work for an estimated US$500 million.
The move to foregoing future monetary rewards in favour of selling for a lump sum has proven to be an increasingly popular decision by major artists. Bieber, however, is one of the youngest to do so as most other artists who preceded him were much older.
But, some say Bieber’s move may have been a bit premature as his songs are expected to be replayed for the next 60 or 70 years. Furthermore, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which is a separate entity from Hipgnosis Songs Capital, has seen its share prices fall by more than 27% from the same time last year due to less interest by investors.
The fund reportedly floated on the London Stock Exchange back in 2018. Merck Mercuriadis, who is behind both companies, claims hit songs can be “more valuable than gold or oil.”
He went on to say that Bieber’s music was “arguably the definitive soundtrack of the streaming revolution.”
Mercuriadis says 13 of Bieber’s songs have each achieved more than a billion streams on large music platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
Since the deal was announced, Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s share price rose by 1.6%, despite not being the actual company that purchased Bieber’s songs. Such a cause-and-effect trend seems to indicate that a deal with Bieber may have been correctly perceived as a jackpot for both companies.
