Justin Bieber’s record-breaking pop hits starting from “Baby” to “Sorry” are no longer his after the superstar sold the rights to all his early career music.
The Canadian-American pop star’s six albums, including his most recent album “Justice,” are part of the massive catalogue sale deal with Hipgnosis, which is a U.K.-based music investment company.
Top artists like Bob Dylan and Shakira have in the latest years, sold rights to their catalogues for massive sums, but at 28 Bieber is apparently the youngest superstar singer to do so. Hipgnosis also acquired Shakira’s catalogue in 2018.
Bieber’s publishing copyrights, songwriter’s ownership, master recordings and all rights of his entire catalogue of recordings made through 2021 are now owned by Hipgnosis. That covers 290 titles, including big hits like “Peaches” and “Beauty and the Beat” music that Bieber has been producing since he was 13.
The deal’s financial details have not been revealed yet, but Billboard Magazine reports that the sale was valued at an estimated $200 million.
“Justin is truly a once-in-a-generation artist and that is reflected and acknowledged by the magnitude of this deal.” Scooter Braun, Bieber’s longtime manager, said in a statement Tuesday.
All of Bieber’s six official studio albums have been certified platinum or multiplatinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and he’s recorded 33 singles that have been chosen platinum or multi-platinum globally. A song or album that sells more than a million copies receives platinum certification, while works that surpass two million sales become multiplatinum.
Bieber is the eighth most-listened-to artist in the world on Spotify, with 69 million monthly listeners and over 30 billion streams. His video for “Baby” has been streamed over 2.9 billion times on YouTube.
“The impact of Justin Bieber on global culture over the last 14 years has truly been remarkable,” said Merck Mercuriadis, the founder of Hipgnosis Song Management.
Mercuriadis also said that Bieber is an important artist in the streaming age and “the acquisition ranks among the biggest deals ever made for an artist under the age of 70.”