Good morning. For the last 15 years, Justin Bieber has been a mainstay of pop music. Rising above the surfeit of teeny-boppers discovered on YouTube in the mid-to-late 2000s, Bieber’s meteoric rise made him one of the most successful musicians of our time, all while his frontal lobe was still developing. Despite vitriol from critics, the Canadian musician has sold over 150m records worldwide, with all six of his albums going platinum or multi-platinum, all before the age of 30.
Now, Bieber has decided to cash in early, following a path usually reserved for older musicians such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen in selling the rights to his music. A long-rumoured $200m (£162m) deal with Hipgnosis Songs Capital covers more than 290 titles released before the end of 2021, with Universal Music Group retaining the rights to the master recordings. But beyond the blockbuster figures, the world of music catalogue acquisitions is a confusing, peculiar one, with companies paying premium prices and vacuuming up every hit they can find. I spoke to music business reporter Eamonn Forde about why more and more artists are selling up. That’s right after the headlines.
