Justin Bieber: Popstar sells his music catalogue to Hipgnosis

Justin Bieber has sold the rights to his music for a reported figure of $200m (£162m).

The 28-year-old is one of the biggest popstars around, with top hits including Baby, Sorry and What Do You Mean?

Hipgnosis Songs Capital are the company that have bought the songs and it now means they'll earn cash every time one the songs is played in public, instead of Justin himself.

But why would he sell his music? Read on to find out more.

Justin Bieber sells entire music catalogue

Hipgnosis Songs Capital now own the publishing copyrights to Bieber's 290-song catalogue, which includes all his music released before 31 December 2021.

The company haven't officially released all the details of the deal, but it's being reported to be worth around $200m.

The founder of Hipgnosis had previously said a hit song is "more precious than gold", and they'll be getting money every time one of Bieber's songs they bought, is played in public or is in a film, advert or TV show..

This is one of the biggest buys for the company, chief of Hipgnosis Merck Mercuriadis said: "The impact of Justin Bieber on global culture over the last 14 years has truly been remarkable."

The Canadian singer has 13 songs which have had more than billion streams on music platforms like YouTube and Spotify.

Bieber isn't the first artist to sell off his songs, musicians are increasingly doing this.

It's become common with usually older artists that your grandparents, or great-grandparents might listen to like Bob Dylan or David Bowie. They are sold for hundreds of millions of pounds.

More recent pop stars such as Justin Timberlake and Shakira have also signed similar deals .

Why do songs get sold?

Companies like Hipgnosis want to buy the songs because once they own the rights, when the song gets played on the radio, an advert or used on TV or in a film, they receive some money.

Artists get a big pay out when they sell to Hipgnosis, but also Hipgnosis will continually get money from these records when they are played and used.

Despite paying out a large sum, the company think that they will earn more than that back overall. It's seen as a good investment.

Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube when he was a teenager and rocketed to fame over the following years, selling more than 150 million records.

Last year he told fans he was getting better each day, after he world tour due to suffering from a virus which has caused part of his face to be paralysed.