How much are Britney’s masters worth? Who owns them?

[nthenwkiss]

11 minutes ago, rr_174 said:

is so sad britney dont own nothing of her music, with HER name, with her voice, with her everything 

Spoiler

not always her voice 

 

[Forever222]

Good question! This could be key of the big players here.
 

Did this company who owns her masters support Jamie Spears / conservatorship? 

[SumoCyco2017]

3 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

well, we know Shakira sold her masters earlier this year : https://www.jowitv.com/shakira-sells-her-music-masters/

She sold her masters because noone ever plays her **** on radio or movies

[Y2KLady]

47 minutes ago, Soso said:

I asked a similar question a few months back and people dragged me 
I said MAYBE Larry owned them just like Taylor Swift' ex-manager did and we all know how she has to re-record all of her songs because of him 

I think RCA owns them but Colon and Larry are 100% involved in it. 

They don't have our taste 

[Y2KLady]

1 hour ago, SlayOut said:

Because Larry is always (somehow) involved.

That **** got his claws in early and deep.  

[Oprah Winfrey.]

What does masters even entails, owning the rights to your songs and being able profit off of them streams or something?

 

[Speed X]

12 minutes ago, Britman512 said:

What does masters even entails, owning the rights to your songs and being able profit off of them streams or something?

 

Movies, commercials, video games, etc 

[Y2KLady]

Well, well, well...speaking of Larry Rudolph and musicians owning their masters....look what just popped up on my Twitter timeline (care of @EatPrayBritney -- thank you, ladies!):

https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/23/aerosmith-management-strikes-amazing-deal-to-get-masters-back/

Larry Rudolph got Aerosmith their masters back. 

WHY do I have the sneaking suspicion that this is an extremely savvy play to show Britney and Rosengart what Larry is capable of accomplishing for Britney? But for a price, of course.

Imagine this hypothetical with me: Larry doesn't want to be charged with anything criminal in Brit's case. No prison.

He pulls out his ace: he thinks he can get Brit's masters back. The proof? This TMZ article is practically up his butt, salivating over how he was able to negotiate an especially tricky deal between two major record labels to ultimately benefit Aerosmith. Larry Rudolph is capable of delivering the golden goose for artists. If this is how he's bargaining, he is SLICK.

@Rik @SlayOut @Steel Magnolia get in here! 

 

[rik]

2 hours ago, Forever222 said:

Good question! This could be key of the big players here.
 

Did this company who owns her masters support Jamie Spears / conservatorship? 

I think so as well. Rosenberg needs to follow the money if this isn’t public knowledge. And I would assume that because Jamie signs off on everything at the end of the day, he oversees who owns the masters whether it’s someone in his camp, another company that bidded the most, or the head of RCA. It’s very weird that it’s very under wraps.

55 minutes ago, SPEED28 said:

Movies, commercials, video games, etc 

Toxic, Baby, and Everytime have all been used with the former 2 being very recent in commercials for Applebee’s commercials, Promising Young Woman, and Free Guy. It definitely speaks volumes to her legacy and how well the music itself, but I worry if some sinister thing is under wraps. For example, does the label know that Britney wouldn’t have authority over her masters use whether she likes or not? They ought to know who owns them but I’m not sure anyone can confirm who it is unless they’re in one of those camps. 

[rik]

6 minutes ago, Y2KLady said:

Well, well, well...speaking of Larry Rudolph and musicians owning their masters....look what just popped up on my Twitter timeline (care of @EatPrayBritney -- thank you, ladies!):

https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/23/aerosmith-management-strikes-amazing-deal-to-get-masters-back/

Larry Rudolph got Aerosmith their masters back. 

WHY do I have the sneaking suspicion that this is an extremely savvy play to show Britney and Rosengart what Larry is capable of accomplishing for Britney? But for a price, of course.

Imagine this hypothetical with me: Larry doesn't want to be charged with anything criminal in Brit's case. No prison.

He pulls out his ace: he thinks he can get Brit's masters back. The proof? This TMZ article is practically up his butt, salivating over how he was able to negotiate an especially tricky deal between two major record labels to ultimately benefit Aerosmith. Larry Rudolph is capable of delivering the golden goose for artists. If this is how he's bargaining, he is SLICK.

@Rik @SlayOut @Steel Magnolia get in here! 

 

Larry certainly also has knowledge of the masters whereabouts . Don’t forget that Steven Tyler/Aerosmith is under Lou Taylor’s Tristar management too. It’s just very odd 

[SlayOut]

26 minutes ago, Y2KLady said:

Well, well, well...speaking of Larry Rudolph and musicians owning their masters....look what just popped up on my Twitter timeline (care of @EatPrayBritney -- thank you, ladies!):

https://www.tmz.com/2021/08/23/aerosmith-management-strikes-amazing-deal-to-get-masters-back/

Larry Rudolph got Aerosmith their masters back. 

WHY do I have the sneaking suspicion that this is an extremely savvy play to show Britney and Rosengart what Larry is capable of accomplishing for Britney? But for a price, of course.

Imagine this hypothetical with me: Larry doesn't want to be charged with anything criminal in Brit's case. No prison.

He pulls out his ace: he thinks he can get Brit's masters back. The proof? This TMZ article is practically up his butt, salivating over how he was able to negotiate an especially tricky deal between two major record labels to ultimately benefit Aerosmith. Larry Rudolph is capable of delivering the golden goose for artists. If this is how he's bargaining, he is SLICK.

@Rik @SlayOut @Steel Magnolia get in here! 

 

I mean if Larry gave Britney her masters then maybe Rosengart could trap him for some other crime or scheme we don’t know about…

This masters question really boggles my mind. I feel like there should be some entertainment reporters looking into this mess.

 

[boyinthemirror]

7 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

well, we know Shakira sold her masters earlier this year : https://www.jowitv.com/shakira-sells-her-music-masters/

Wow. I just lost a lot of respect for Shakira  Selling her whole legacy and voice to a company… Your hard earned work and ownership of it should be priceless.

[PokemonSpears]

1 minute ago, boyinthemirror said:

Wow. I just lost a lot of respect for Shakira  Selling her whole legacy and voice to a company… Your hard earned work and your ownership of it should be priceless.

According to some articles, it was basically because of the pandemic. A lot of musicians got affected by it, and they stopped receiving the money they were used to. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Blondie, I think even The Killers have done it, Enrique Iglesias, etc. In the case of older artists is better for them to just get a huge sum of money and enjoy their last years, which is probably about the same they would do anyways from now until they pass away. In case of Shakira, for those that love making fun of her legal issues, it might have to do with the taxes, since they apparently pay less taxes by doing this transaction, than the amount of taxes they would have to pay for receiving the money from sales and streaming normally.

What I understand, is that for example Shakira sold the rights for 145 songs, so any new song she releases from now on won't be part of that deal, so she can still make her own money from her future work.

Considering Britney's streaming numbers, it would probably be more convenient if she sold the masters (if she even owns them), or not, depending on how much the companies think they're worth.

 

 

What I was reading is that the company Shakira sold her songs to, Hipgnosis, owns Rodney Jerkins (Darkchild) catalogue, so I suppose that includes the songs he did for Britney.

There's also this

Quote

Christopher "Tricky" Stewart 

The multiple Grammy Winner's 121-song catalogue was considered complementary to The-Dream catalogue, as Stewart co-wrote many of the songs in that catalogue including Rihanna's Umbrella, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyoncé, Baby by Justin Bieber, Me Against The Music by Britney Spears & Madonna) and Touch My Body by Mariah Carey.

and this

Quote

Sean Garrett

The 588-song catalogue includes Usher's Yeah, Check On It by Beyoncé, Ciara's breakout single Goodies, the *****cat Dolls' Buttons, Britney Spears' Toy Soldier, Nicki Minaj's first single Massive Attack and Mario's Break Up.

 

so as I suspected, @Rik I think you'll have to research by songwriter and if they've sold their catalogues to any company, but I don't know how that works when there's multiple songwriters for a song, or if the singers, as performers, can still sell their part of the share.

[PokemonSpears]

44 minutes ago, boyinthemirror said:

Wow. I just lost a lot of respect for Shakira  Selling her whole legacy and voice to a company… Your hard earned work and your ownership of it should be priceless.

They also released this interview with her in their annual report

Spoiler

Who has been the greatest influence on your writing and why?
My Dad is the first one who imparted a love of writing to me. He wrote for newspapers and has even published books, and since I was little I was fascinated with his love of words.  When I was 8, I got my first typewriter for Christmas, they got it for me to encourage my writing. I still have it to this day! Throughout my career, especially when I was learning  English, I read a lot of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, even poets like Walt Whitman…and I love the use of colloquial language to describe the divine by masters like Pablo Neruda and  Gustavo Cerati.

You are an incredible Songwriter, artist and cultural figure, which of those roles is most important to you?
I would say Songwriter. It’s the one I feel most represents me and who I am. Even if I weren’t an artist, or a cultural figure, I would still write. It’s how I make sense of the world around me.

Why did you choose Hipgnosis (to sell your catalogue to)?
Selling my catalogue was not a decision I took lightly! I wanted to ensure that if I did sell it, that I chose a partner who would take the job of being my Song’s custodian seriously, who would work to protect and promote my life’s work and also be invested in the road ahead. With Merck and Hipgnosis I knew I had found that partner.

How important was Merck’s advocacy for the songwriting community and his fight to ensure the Songwriter is properly recognised and remunerated?
Merck is truly one of the most knowledgeable music connoisseurs I’ve ever met in the industry, and I have had a very long career. He always thinks of the Songwriter first, and I think it has to do with the fact that he’s such a genuine fan of the art of songwriting. He’s able to see the value and timelessness of songs in people’s minds, as an accompaniment to their  milestones, their emotions, important times in their lives.

Do you feel you still have a connection with your music now that you are part of Hipgnosis?
More than ever. Working with them, and the zeal they have for making sure the songs in my catalogue continue to shine and find their place in the culture, has made me look at a lot of these tracks in a fresh light, and hear them with fresh ears. Any art form is both a product of its time and a testament to the moment in which it was made, and it’s enlightening to see how these songs evolve over time as the zeitgeist changes.

What writer(s) do you admire that are in the Hipgnosis family?
Too many to name! Debbie Harry, Kaiser Chiefs, Poo Bear, and of course Ian Kirkpatrick who I just did my latest song with!

What would you like to see Hipgnosis do in the music industry with the platform it has created?
I think most importantly, continue to advocate for the rights and careers of Songwriters, but also, I’d love to see them be pioneers in paving the way for new uses and exploitations of music as technology, streaming and social platforms continue to evolve.

 

and my bad, apparently the deal also includes her future album

[boyinthemirror]

2 minutes ago, PokemonSpears said:

They also released this interview with her in their annual report

  Reveal hidden contents

Who has been the greatest influence on your writing and why?
My Dad is the first one who imparted a love of writing to me. He wrote for newspapers and has even published books, and since I was little I was fascinated with his love of words.  When I was 8, I got my first typewriter for Christmas, they got it for me to encourage my writing. I still have it to this day! Throughout my career, especially when I was learning  English, I read a lot of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, even poets like Walt Whitman…and I love the use of colloquial language to describe the divine by masters like Pablo Neruda and  Gustavo Cerati.

You are an incredible Songwriter, artist and cultural figure, which of those roles is most important to you?
I would say Songwriter. It’s the one I feel most represents me and who I am. Even if I weren’t an artist, or a cultural figure, I would still write. It’s how I make sense of the world around me.

Why did you choose Hipgnosis (to sell your catalogue to)?
Selling my catalogue was not a decision I took lightly! I wanted to ensure that if I did sell it, that I chose a partner who would take the job of being my Song’s custodian seriously, who would work to protect and promote my life’s work and also be invested in the road ahead. With Merck and Hipgnosis I knew I had found that partner.

How important was Merck’s advocacy for the songwriting community and his fight to ensure the Songwriter is properly recognised and remunerated?
Merck is truly one of the most knowledgeable music connoisseurs I’ve ever met in the industry, and I have had a very long career. He always thinks of the Songwriter first, and I think it has to do with the fact that he’s such a genuine fan of the art of songwriting. He’s able to see the value and timelessness of songs in people’s minds, as an accompaniment to their  milestones, their emotions, important times in their lives.

Do you feel you still have a connection with your music now that you are part of Hipgnosis?
More than ever. Working with them, and the zeal they have for making sure the songs in my catalogue continue to shine and find their place in the culture, has made me look at a lot of these tracks in a fresh light, and hear them with fresh ears. Any art form is both a product of its time and a testament to the moment in which it was made, and it’s enlightening to see how these songs evolve over time as the zeitgeist changes.

What writer(s) do you admire that are in the Hipgnosis family?
Too many to name! Debbie Harry, Kaiser Chiefs, Poo Bear, and of course Ian Kirkpatrick who I just did my latest song with!

What would you like to see Hipgnosis do in the music industry with the platform it has created?
I think most importantly, continue to advocate for the rights and careers of Songwriters, but also, I’d love to see them be pioneers in paving the way for new uses and exploitations of music as technology, streaming and social platforms continue to evolve.

 

I started reading articles too and I think the pandemic excuse was… Interesting. Obviously the pandemic hit them hard but was it that serious for them to sell their catalogues? Like, they’re already very rich  And we’re seeing artists dying to own their music and doing everything they can to achieve it. I thought it would be the ultimate life goal of any artist with big success under major record labels. 

I know Shakira is a very clever woman so I hope this decision will be good in the long run. But now these people are the *only* owners of her catalogue, shouldn’t that be scary? What if their company goes bankrupt for whatever reason, and the music is sold to people who will mismanage it? She won’t live long enough to see that but seeing Aaliyah’s case up close has been enlightening. Her music and legacy could have the same fate in worst case scenario.

I hope this is not some kind of a retired artist move and she keeps making music for a long time that will be amazing and impactful 

[PokemonSpears]

@Rik you should check their annual report, I didn't read the whole thing, and that's just one company, but it seems to be one of the most prominent in this new business of buying masters/publishing rights of music https://www.hipgnosissongs.com/home

they share a lot of their numbers an explain what they do, etc

[samwoods321]

i feel like this is another rabbit hole itself, and of course why wouldnt it be 

[Moscow]

Well, owning your masters is a very expensive thing for any artist Britney masters are owned by RCA as Britney don't have the power to go under any contract I am sure her father does all the dealings the interesting part is when she's free and decides to return to music then she can leave RCA with ease as she isn't under a contract in the first place but then we don't know what is her contract and according to the research she is still left with 2 more albums with her. 

[PokemonSpears]

1 minute ago, boyinthemirror said:

I started reading articles too and I think the pandemic excuse was… Interesting. Obviously the pandemic hit them hard but was it that serious for them to sell their catalogues? Like, they’re already very rich  And we’re seeing artists dying to own their music and doing everything they can to achieve it. I thought it would be the ultimate life goal of any artist with big success under major record labels. 

I know Shakira is a very clever woman so I hope this decision will be good in the long run. But now these people are the *only* owners of her catalogue, shouldn’t that be scary? What if their company goes bankrupt for whatever reason, and the music is sold to people who will mismanage it? She won’t live long enough to see that but seeing Aaliyah’s case up close has been enlightening. Her music and legacy could have the same fate in worst case scenario.

I hope this is not some kind of a retired artist move and she keeps making music for a long time that will be amazing and impactful 

I really don't know how it works, there's more I need to understand. For example one thing is the masters, like the actual song recording, but then there's the publishing rights, which usually belong to the songwriters, but the labels usually have ownership, at least partly, of both.

And yeah, the truth is the future of the music is very uncertain, I mean, 15 years ago I would've never imagined we'd live in this world of digital streaming, like I genuinely would've never believed artists would be making money this way, besides just digital sales, so who knows where will technology take us in 15 years, 20 years, 50 years, etc. and how good or bad these deals will be by then.

She will still make money from sales, I guess, and of course live performing.

 

[rik]

5 hours ago, samwoods321 said:

i feel like this is another rabbit hole itself, and of course why wouldnt it be 

Of course! LOL 

6 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

According to some articles, it was basically because of the pandemic. A lot of musicians got affected by it, and they stopped receiving the money they were used to. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Blondie, I think even The Killers have done it, Enrique Iglesias, etc. In the case of older artists is better for them to just get a huge sum of money and enjoy their last years, which is probably about the same they would do anyways from now until they pass away. In case of Shakira, for those that love making fun of her legal issues, it might have to do with the taxes, since they apparently pay less taxes by doing this transaction, than the amount of taxes they would have to pay for receiving the money from sales and streaming normally.

What I understand, is that for example Shakira sold the rights for 145 songs, so any new song she releases from now on won't be part of that deal, so she can still make her own money from her future work.

Considering Britney's streaming numbers, it would probably be more convenient if she sold the masters (if she even owns them), or not, depending on how much the companies think they're worth.

 

 

What I was reading is that the company Shakira sold her songs to, Hipgnosis, owns Rodney Jerkins (Darkchild) catalogue, so I suppose that includes the songs he did for Britney.

There's also this

and this

 

so as I suspected, @Rik I think you'll have to research by songwriter and if they've sold their catalogues to any company, but I don't know how that works when there's multiple songwriters for a song, or if the singers, as performers, can still sell their part of the share.

oh man. Okay this is so interesting to hear honestly, I guess if the Darkchild songs were included that would have to include Britney songs going as far back as 2000. I also assume Max Martin probably has a stake in the original songs that are probably very sought after. Thank you so much for sharing all of this! 🤍