Katy Perry and other stars who sold their discography: why are they doing it?

How much is a discography that has gone down in music history worth today? And how much will it be worth in thirty or fifty years? The question of whether to choose the egg today or the chicken tomorrow is also becoming very relevant in the recording scene, as a growing number of artists are selling, selling or negotiating for the rights (and sometimes even masters, recordings of the entire repertoire) of his “songbook”.

A deeply developing picture

What drives the accelerator is a context that even just twenty years ago would have been unimaginable (except to those who contributed to its creation), consisting of songs released in streaming, who listen on global platforms accessible from a phone rather than a computer or television. A gigantic ocean from which anyone can draw, at any time, from any corner of the globe. After more than difficult years associated with Napster crisis

, the present now speaks of a sector sailing with the wind at its back, driven by growing and sustained demand for content from users. The question is, will this last? And under what conditions? Is the artistic legacy of the sacred musical monster destined to continue to rise in value according to a kind of perpetual motion machine, or is the peak in sight? Which pieces of the cake will the heirs be able to share? It’s a field and it’s full of unknowns. Often the unknown speeds up decision making.

Katy Perry deal

The latest news related to this type of business Elizabeth Hudson aka Katy PerryAmerican singer and songwriter who came to the negotiating table with a resume sold over 100 million records and the rightful title of a star shining on the horizon of pop music for more than ten years. In his case, the agreement involved the sale of rights to music published between 2008 and 2020 to LitMus Music for approximately $225 million.

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Katy Perry wasn’t the first and she certainly won’t be the last. One of the most cited names in this context is the name Bob Dylan, the only singer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, who sold the rights to his songs between Sony and rival Universal between 2020 and 2022 for a sum in excess of $500 million. The same order of magnitude was recognized Bruce Springsteen

. Such artists at least deserve a mention on the list. Neil Young (who sold the rights to half of his songs for about $150 million), Paul Simon (terms not disclosed, but six decades of music would be worth an even more staggering sum), or Bob Marleywhich monetized about $50 million. David Bowie received an estimated amount of $250 million, while Phil Collins and Genesis, combining individual and group songs, would have reached 300 million, about the same as Sting. In conclusion, let’s go back to more recent times and Katy Perry’s peers at the beginning of the year. Justin Bieber collected 200 million. However, for many years there was (and is) a discussion about selling the catalogue. Pink Floyd. Rumors are chasing each other, but at the moment there is only black smoke.

Win/win formula

Why are these operations so popular? Because, as the jargon goes, it’s about agreements in which “everyone wins”. Major labels make investments with a long-term view that, despite important (very important) costs in the present, promise to recognize income in the long term that can recoup what they spend with interest. Artists, starting with the older ones (but not only them, as recent cases show), can immediately monetize staggering numbers that they would probably have collected anyway, and perhaps surpassed, but over the course of decades. So everyone is happy. Today, probably yes, in anticipation of what the market and music lovers’ choices have in store in the future. In a world where everything (or almost everything) can be achieved with one click, nothing (or almost nothing) can be certain.