Company buys JB's music - 13th February 2023

Justin Bieber has reportedly sold the rights of his old songs for $200 million to Hipgnosis Records Capitol.

The music firm will earn royalties whenever any of Bieber's 290 songs are played on the radio, streamed or used in TV or film. This means a big pay out for the young singer of hits Baby and Let Me Love You and it could fund his next venture.

The 28 year old has joined an ever-growing group of singers who have cashed out their collections. However, most wait until the end of their careers to do so. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen both sold their back-catalogues to Sony with Springsteen receiving a reported $500 million.

Although Bieber's move could be seen as a gamble, if he invests his money wisely, he could end up as wealthy as Rihanna, who's worth $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. He'll miss out on the royalties from his past discography, although he can still profit from new music.

Hipgnosis is counting on the fact that Bieber's hits will remain popular. With the young age of 24 million of Bieber's fans, 24 million of Bieber fans' young age, his songs might still be streaming 50 years from now. Founder Merck Mercuriadis states that Bieber's music is "arguably the definitive soundtrack to the streaming revolution". Mercuriadis says hit songs can be "more valuable than gold and oil."

He could be right. Bieber has 13 hits that have been streamed over a billion times on YouTube and Spotify. Although the latter pays $0.004 for every stream just one of those 13 hits earned $4 million.

Despite his company's shares falling by 27 percent last year, Mercuriadis is positive. He argued music royalties were recession proof, pointing out "people continue to listen to and pay for music irrespective of today's cost of living challenges."

After the deal's announcement, Hipgnosis' share price rose by 1.7 percent, though it may be decades until they regain the $200 million they've paid for Bieber's legacy.