Justin Bieber just sold his rights to his music. What does that mean? What can he do? And what can’t he do? Why do people want to purchase that?
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When anyone pays for the use of a song (film soundtrack, commercial, download, etc), the money goes to whomever owns the rights. Until recently, Bruce Springsteen owned all of his own rights and was making money a little bit at a time as songs were played on radio, streaming services, etc. Then he sold the rights to everything for about $500 million. He’s in his early 70s now, so even if he lived another 25 years it would be unlikely he’d be able to make that much money from his music going forward, so the advantage for him is clear. What’s not so clear is how Sony (the buyer) plans to make that money back. They paid a similar amount for Dylan’s catalog. They’ve spent nearly 2 billion dollars on music rights in the past two years, so stand by for an onslaught of ads for Born To Run Sneakers and Times They Are A-Changin’ Diapers.
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