Buy rights
Justin Bieber has become the latest in an ever-growing line of top artists to cash in on their back catalog, selling his share of his publishing rights and songwriting royalties for just over $200 million.
The hitmaker behind imaginatively-titled modern classics like “Baby” and “Sorry” signed the deal with Hipgnosis, the Blackstone-backed song buyer that acquired the rights to tunes from Justin Timberlake, Nile Rodgers, and Leonard Cohen last year.
Staying power
Bieber’s popularity and relevance today, is unquestionable. His 71m monthly listeners are currently enough to place him 6th on the list of Spotify's most widely listened-to artists, edging him ahead of mega-stars like Rihanna (7th), Drake (9th), Billie Eilish (27th) and Adele (40th).
With 8 number-one singles on the Billboard top 100 and 8 number-one albums too, Hipgnosis’ $200 million for everything the singer recorded before 2022 is based on a successful track record. Despite that success, Bieber — who burst onto the music scene at just 15 — is seen as a slightly riskier investment than someone like Bruce Springsteen, who sold his rights for a whopping $500 million 2 years ago. Any artist with a strong back catalog and proven staying power for 5+ years might be wondering what they could cash out for.
