Bieber sells his songs

Bieber sells his life's work - 13th February 2023

Hipgnosis Records Capitol has reportedly acquired the rights to Justin Bieber’s songs, splashing out $200 million to close the deal.

Whenever one of Bieber’s 290 songs are played on the radio, streamed or used in TV or film the music firm will earn royalties. His hits Baby and Let Me Love You are among the songs that have earned the young artist the huge payout.

The Canadian singer's 28 and the youngest artist to join an ever expanding assembly of singers who've cashed out their collections. Most resist until their golden years to make such a move, with the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen both selling their lifetime catalogues to Sony with Springsteen reportedly cashing in a whopping $500 million on the deal.

Some might call a deal like this a gamble, but Bieber could eventually be as well-heeled as billionaire Rihanna, who's net worth according to Forbes stands at $1.7 billion. Losing out on the royalties from his past discography the young artist will still rake in profits from any future releases.

Banking on the fact that Bieber’s hits will carry on being popular given the 24 million Beliebers’ young age, Hipgnosis anticipates that 50 years from now, his hits will still be streaming. CEO Merck Mercuriadis claims Bieber’s music is "arguably the definitive soundtrack to the streaming revolution".

Mercuriadis's bold claim that top tunes can be "more valuable than gold and oil" might be spot on. Bieber boasts 13 hits with over a billion streams on platforms such as YouTube and Spotify. Although the latter pays out a paltry $0.004 per stream, just one of these tracks has racked up $4 million dollars for the young artist.

Mercuriadis is upbeat despite his company’s shares dropping by almost 30 percent in the last 12 months. He's adamant that music royalties are recession proof, exclaiming "people continue to listen to and pay for music irrespective of today's cost of living challenges."

The deal hasn’t hurt Hipgnosis’s share price which rose by 1.7 percent, though it may be an age before they recoup the $200 million they’ve splashed out for Bieber’s work.