According to many media sources, Justin Bieber is nearing a $200 million agreement to sell his music rights to Hipgnosis Songs Capital.
Shares of the pop singer’s recorded music library and other published works are allegedly included in the pact, should both parties come to an understanding. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal broke the story, which was later corroborated by other sites.
If a deal is completed, the collection will still be managed and controlled by Universal, according to Variety.
Hipgnosis, which earlier this year paid $100 million for the publishing and recorded music catalogue rights of Justin Timberlake, would consider the purchase to be its greatest acquisition to date.
Publishing rights are typically not worth as much as the original songs and albums that were actually produced; nevertheless, money from licencing deals for movies and advertisements may generate substantial profits over time, especially for well-known musicians like Justin Bieber.
The singer’s big singles, such as “Sorry,” “Love Yourself,” and “Baby,” are still hugely popular with a generation of music listeners, despite the fact that Bieber’s work is relatively fresh compared to earlier catalogue sales for musicians like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. In transactions for between mid-nine figures two years ago, Springsteen and Dylan both sold their libraries.
In the past, Hipgnosis purchased the libraries of veteran performers with more than 50 years of music, like Leonard Cohen.
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