Justin Bieber Sells Catalog to Hipgnosis for $200 Million

Justin Bieber has sold his song catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Capital, the company announced in a press release today. According to Billboard and Variety, the catalog was sold for over $200 million. Formally, Hipgnosis acquired Bieber’s publishing copyrights, master recordings, and neighboring rights for his back catalog. Universal Music Group, however, will still own Bieber’s recorded music masters in perpetuity. The deal marks Hipgnosis’ largest music-rights acquisition to date.

In 2021, Hipgnosis purchased a 50 precent stake of Neil Young’s songwriting catalog. The following year, Leonard Cohen’s estate sold the entirety his songwriting catalog to Hipgnosis. The financial details of both acquisitions remain undisclosed. Also last year, Justin Timberlake sold his song catalog to Hipgnosis for a reported value of just over $100 million.

Other players in the catalog acquisition game are Universal Music Publishing, who bought the publishing rights to Bob Dylan’s entire catalog in 2020 for over $300 million. Following that deal, Dylan sold the master rights to his recorded music catalog to Sony Music Entertainment for $200 million. Sony also picked up the masters and publishing catalog of Bruce Springsteen for a reported $550 million in late 2021.

Some artists who are members of larger groups have sold stakes in their band’s catalog. Julian Casablancas sold his stake in the Strokes’ catalog to Primary Wave, while Public Enemy’s Chuck D sold a major stake in his songwriting catalog to his longtime publisher Reach Music.

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