Justin Bieber sells his entire music catalog

Justin Bieber has made the shocking decision to sell the rights to his entire music catalog. Every song that he has ever released until 2021 will no longer belong to him. It has been reported that he was the youngest to make the move.

The Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian artist sold his entire music catalog for an undisclosed sum. However, it was estimated that the deal cost around $200 million. Bieber sold the rights to Hipgnosis Song Management, a company that owns the catalogs of several other big name artists like Michael Buble and Metallica.

All 290 of Bieber’s songs, including ‘Baby’, ‘Sorry’, and ‘Love Yourself’ were sold to the company, including his share for publishing copyrights and royalties from his masters. The company released a statement about the recent acquisition, stating that this was one of the “biggest deals ever made” from someone “under the age of 70.”

“This acquisition ranks among the biggest deals ever made for an artist under the age of 70. Such is the power of this incredible catalogue that has almost 82 million monthly listeners and over 30 billion streams on Spotify alone.”

Dan Runcie reported on LinkedIn that the reason why Bieber decided to sell the rights to his music was for liquidation reasons. Insiders said that the artist canceled some of his tours and might have been affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is to be believed that Beiber will use the money to pay back what he owes and other liabilities due to poor ticket sales.

“He has canceled and postponed recent tours, not just due to COVID. His stadium tour was downgraded to arenas due to low ticket sales. Other tours were canceled for health reasons. This cash can help cover the tour money an liabilities that are owed.”

Artist selling the rights to their music library isn’t uncommon. Earlier this year, Rolling Stone reported that rapper Dr. Dre announced that he was going to sell his music rights to Shamrock Capital and Universal Music Group for $200 million. Other artists like Justin Timberlake, David Bowie, and Shakira have reported selling their music in the past for a variety of financial reasons, based on a NPR report.

Only a few have reported buying back the rights of their released masters. Most notably Taylor Swift, who attempted to buy the rights to her masters, but her previous record label, Big Machine wouldn’t let her. Rolling Stone reports that the rights to her original masters were then sold to Scooter Braun, who later reportedly regretted his purchase.