Justin Bieber sells entire back catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management in “historic” deal

Justin Bieber has sold his entire back catalog of music — more than 290 songs — to Hipgnosis Songs Capital, the music rights investment company announced Tuesday. According to Billboard, the deal is valued at over $200 million. 

The company will acquire the rights to the entire back catalog of Bieber’s releases through Dec. 31, 2021 — including publishing copyrights, master recordings, neighboring rights and artist loyalties, the company said.

“This acquisition ranks among the biggest deals ever made for an artist under the age of 70,” Merck Mercuriadis, CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management said in a statement. “Such is the power of this incredible catalog that has almost 82 million monthly listeners and over 30 billion streams on Spotify alone.”

Bieber has sold over 150 million records globally, Hipgnosis said, adding that all six of his albums have been certified platinum or multi-platinum.

Bieber’s manager of 15 years, Scooter Braun, called the deal “historic.”

“When Justin made the decision to make a catalog deal we quickly found the best partner to preserve and grow this amazing legacy was Merck and Hipgnosis,” Braun said in the press release. “Justin is truly a once in a generation artist and that is reflected and acknowledged by the magnitude of this deal.”

Shakira struck a similar deal with Hipgnosis earlier this month, selling her catalog of about 145 songs, and 100% of her publishing rights.

The concept of selling catalogs has become increasingly popular, even amongst younger musical artists like Justin Timberlake and Imagine Dragons, who also sold their catalogs in recent years.

There are several reasons artists are look to sell the rights to years of work. Some are looking to sell their catalogs before President Biden’s proposed plan to increase taxes on capital gains is potentially instituted. If artists were to wait until after this tax plan goes into effect, they would be paying a higher tax on the sale of their catalog.

Other artists may be looking to get a lump sum of cash up front instead of royalty checks over a period of time.