Songs by Justin Bieber are sold for $200 million

Hipgnosis Songs Capital has purchased Justin Bieber's portion of the music rights from him for an estimated $200 million (£162 million). The company now owns the pop star's ownership interest in some of the biggest recent hits, such as Sorry and Baby. One of the best-selling musicians of the twenty-first century, Justin Bieber, has begun to cash in on his back catalog. By doing this, Hipgnosis will now be compensated each time a song that contains a portion of their music is heard in public. The company, a $1 billion joint venture between the American financial powerhouse Blackstone and the British Hipgnosis Song Management, now owns the publishing rights to Justin Bieber's 290-song back catalog. All of his music that was released prior to December 31, 2021, as well as his writer's share, are included. The agreement also included the purchase of the superstar's artist rights to his master recordings. Hipgnosis has not made the deal's terms public, but a source reportedly told the AFP news agency that it was worth about $200 million. Music funds are increasingly buying stakes in artists' works, including Justin Timberlake and Shakira, who have agreements with Hipgnosis as well. However, older artists are more likely to follow the trend. Both Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have sold back catalog rights to Sony in the past two years. Springsteen's life's work reportedly brought in $500 million (£376 million). The Hipgnosis Songs Fund is assembling a library of popular songs and inviting major institutional investors to participate in the profits. In 2018, the fund went public on the London Stock Exchange. Merck Mercuriadis, the company's founder, once remarked that popular songs can be "more valuable than gold or oil." With 13 songs that have each received more than a billion streams on websites like YouTube and Spotify, he claimed that Justin Bieber's music was "arguably the definitive soundtrack of the streaming revolution." Drop in share price He continued by saying that because his audience is still young, royalties will keep coming in for "60 or 70 years." Mercuriadis said on BBC Radio 4's Today program, "The beautiful thing about music is that when these songs become hits, they become part of the fabric of our lives and they live on forever." However, as investor interest dwindled, the company's share price dropped by more than 27% from this time last year. Mercuriadis described the current share price situation as a "disappointment" in December, but he insisted that he still believed in the company's long-term profitability. The number of annual audio streams in the US has now surpassed one trillion for the first time, proving that people continue to pay for and listen to music despite the difficulties associated with today's cost of living, he said. These are all encouraging signs of the continued growth that Hipgnosis will experience as income passes through the collection process. Following the announcement of the Justin Bieber deal, the company's share price increased by 1.6%.