Justin Timberlake’s Entire Song Catalogue Has Been Sold

Hipgnosis Song Management has purchased Justin Timberlake’s song catalogue, giving the corporation complete ownership of the artist’s previously released works.

Hipgnosis Song Management has purchased Timberlake’s entire catalogue of songs, including ‘SexyBack,’ ‘Rock Your Body,’ and ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling.’ Timberlake’s publishing rights are covered by the arrangement, but not his recording rights, which include songs he composed or co-authored.

Some of NSYNC’s best-known successes, such as ‘Bye Bye Bye’ and ‘It’s Gonna Be Me,’ aren’t included in the sale because he wasn’t a songwriter on them, but the majority of his solo work is. The sale’s financial specifics have not been disclosed.

Following in the footsteps of prominent pop acts like Bruno Mars, who sold a chunk of his catalogue to Warner Chappell last year, Timberlake is the latest musician to get involved in the burgeoning music acquisition market.

Cardi B, Quincy Jones, Anderson.Paak and Saweetie have all signed catalogue deals with the same label, as have the estates of George Michael and David Bowie. Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are among the artists whose rights have been sold abroad.

Leonard Cohen’s estate came to an agreement with the Hipgnosis Songs Fund for an unknown sum earlier this year.

The contract, according to Rolling Stone, contained all 278 of Cohen’s songs, including ‘Hallelujah,’ ‘Suzanne,’ ‘So Long, Marianne,’ ‘First We Take Manhattan,’ and others.

Hipgnosis has spent more than $2 billion (£1.4 billion) for the rights to hits by artists as diverse as Neil Young, Blondie, Shakira, Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, producer Bob Rock, and others.

When it comes to the musicians whose back catalogues they have bought, Mercuriadis stated last year that cultural significance is crucial.

In other recent news, Pink Floyd has been rumoured to be in talks to sell their back catalogue for millions of dollars.

The band has apparently started conversations with several possible purchasers for the rights to their complete back catalogue, according to Bloomberg. The proposal, if successful, might be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

—Silviya.Y