Katy Perry sells rights for $225 million. Why more musicians are selling their music rights.
【Ketty Perry reportedly sold original recording rights and music publishing rights for 33 billion yen.】
https://nme-jp.com/news/133929/
・Katy Perry sold the rights to her music for $225 million ($33 billion)
・The deal covers the original recording rights and music publishing rights to 38-year-old Katy Perry’s five albums released between 2008 and 2020, from her 2008 release “One of the Boys” to her latest, “Smile.”
・In the past few years, there has been a growing trend by musicians to sell the rights to catalog sound recordings.
These are the quotes from the article
More and more big-name musicians are selling their rights.
Music is famous for its copyright business, including royalties, but an increasing number of musicians have recently been selling their rights.
Instead of receiving regular royalties, it is like giving them up and selling them for a gazillion dollars.
Some examples of famous musicians
・Bob Dylan sold the rights to all of his works for approximately $300 million (about 39.3 billion Japanese yen).
・Bruce Springsteen sold the rights to all of his works for approximately $500 million (about 65.5 billion Japanese yen).
・Justin Bieber, $200 million (about 26 billion Japanese yen) for all 291 songs released through 2021.
・Red Hot Chili Peppers sells copyrights to all of its songs for about 15 billion years.
・Michael Jackson’s Estate Foundation sells 50% of all music rights for about 120 billion yen.
It is a great amount of money.
Why are these trends occurring?
【Why did Justin Bieber sell the copyrights to his songs? Kiyoshi Matsuo explains.】
https://rkb.jp/article/167830/
・Is the sale of copyright a living gift?
Avoid inheritance problems that often occur after death by managing assets in cash.
・Subscription companies battle for copyrights
The competition for subscription services (for artists and music) is great, so now is the time to sell the rights.
・The music industry’s revenue structure is changing & wealth cannot be taken to the grave.
The way the music business is conducted through CDs and live performances is changing, and subscriptions are becoming even more significant. In other words, the attitude of how to deal with rights income is also changing.
Copyrights continue to exist after the author’s death. From the author’s point of view, it is possible to collectively receive a portion of the royalties before his/her death. Rather than receiving royalties over the long term, many artists sell their works in bulk and use the proceeds to move on to their next business venture.
・Investment firms are eyeing the music rights business.
At the same time that artists consider it a good time to sell, there are many investment companies that have their eyes on it. Investment companies believe that in the long run, they can buy the rights at a high price and still make a profit.
I have summarized the above in my own way.
In Japan, we have yet to hear of anything like this, but I think we will see more and more Japanese musicians selling their rights in the future.
With unlimited music subscriptions, social networking services that keep the music flowing, AI singers, AI composers, and the sale of artists’ rights, the music scene is truly changing rapidly.
We will continue to monitor it closely.
See you then
Katy Perry, there was a time when I used to listen to her a lot. I like the pop feel of it. This song is already 12 years old. 1.4 billion views is amazing. I wonder if the rights to this song have already left Katy.
