Justin Bieber Sells Music Catalog for $200M
After Shakira, Neil Young, Hootie & The Blowfish and Justin Timberlake, Hipgnosis has come for the other Justin, one Mr Bieber. The Canadian singer is the latest to sell his back catalogue to the Blackstone-backed song management company for $200 million. The deal takes Bieber’s net worth to $300 million, according to wealth tracking website Celebrity Net Worth.
Hipgnosis has purchased Bieber’s interest in his publishing copyrights for all of his music released before December 31, 2021. The agreement includes his six studio albums and covers 290 songs. It is the largest deal for any artist of his generation. The catalogue has almost 82 million monthly listeners and more than 30 billion streams on Spotify alone, according to Hipgnosis.
The Baby singer, 28, has sold 28 million equivalent album units in the US, according to music magazine Billboard. Songs where he is the primary artist have been streamed on demand about 16.6 billion times.
Estimates of his international sales vary, with figures putting his total record sales between 70 million to 150 million.
He has had eight number-one albums on the Billboard 200 chart. He is the youngest musician to achieve that feat.
In September, R&B superstar Usher sold his interest in Bieber’s record label, RBMG, to HarbourView Equity Partners for an amount estimated at just under $40 million, according to Billboard.
Bieber signed his first record deal at the age of 14 and Usher was an early mentor.
The singer earns between $50 million and $70 million every year from music sales, merchandise, touring, product endorsements and other business ventures, Celebrity Net Worth estimates.
Music tours are thought to comprise the largest chunk of Bieber’s earnings. His first tour My World (2010-2011) grossed $53.3 million, while Believe, in 2012-2013, took in $69.9 million, according to Forbes. His most recent roadshow, the Purpose World Tour (2016-2017) earned more than $250 million, according to Billboard.
Additional income came from two films. 2011’s Never Say Never was the most successful concert film in the US, grossing $73 million, according to Billboard. Two years later, the documentary Believe took in $10.9 million, Box Office Mojo reports.
Over the years, Bieber has endorsed a range of brands, including Calvin Klein, T-Mobile, Walmart, adidas and Beats by Dr Dre.
Bieber has also released seven perfumes with Revlon or its subsidiaries, including Someday, Girlfriend, Next Girlfriend and The Key, according to perfume database Fragrantica.
The My World hitmaker has made a significant number of real estate investments. He has bought and sold homes in Calabasas and Beverly Hills, California, and Ontario, Canada. With his wife, the model Hailey Bieber, he now lives in a $25.8 million mansion in Los Angeles.
Bieber has also frequently dipped his toes into equity. He has been involved with at least eight investments, according to business analytics platform CB Insights.
The most recent was cryptocurrency payment processor MoonPay in 2022. Notable exits include electrolyte drink mix Liquid I.V., which was acquired by Unilever in 2020.
