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

[rik]

5 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

@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

Definitely going to check this one out! 

[THE BAJAN VIBE]

On 8/24/2021 at 2:59 AM, Y2KLady said:

It's a great question. @Rik coming thru with the brilliance!!!

So fascinating that Rihanna owns her masters now. YES 

It's one of the reasons she's not releasing anymore until she really wants to do it.

[Y2KLady]

I keep returning to this topic. Watch for this subject to pop up as Team Con negotiate for less harsh punitive damages.

I believe that Britney's masters are going to be held as a bargaining chip for guilty parties to avoid prison and/or expensive settlements.

@Rik did you find anything in the Hipgnosis annual report? 

[Tetris]

On 8/23/2021 at 9:02 PM, HIM said:

I don’t like talking about this stuff. I don’t like knowing a company can own your voice and image like wtf the artist should have free reign 

I mean, they have full ownership if they’re independent. 
But, to my knowledge, a record label financially backs the production of an artist’s records, hence the trade off for a level of master ownership/executive input because they’re the ones paying for it to exist in the first place (not the artist). 

[rik]

9 hours ago, Y2KLady said:

I keep returning to this topic. Watch for this subject to pop up as Team Con negotiate for less harsh punitive damages.

I believe that Britney's masters are going to be held as a bargaining chip for guilty parties to avoid prison and/or expensive settlements.

@Rik did you find anything in the Hipgnosis annual report? 

No sign of Britney in the report however I was still surprised with what all was in it. The timbaland catalogue and homecoming being owned by another party, that too from two very very big artists with a lot of money makes me think that Britney very well might not be able to buy back her masters with $62 million. That’s of course a lot of money which I know could probably fix an entire country in some cases, but Britney herself should be worth around $900 million. I am worried a bit actually, however I don’t know if perhaps the legalities of the conservatorship will allow Britney to gain her money back and then do what she pleases with it?? Idk

 

 I genuinely agree with you by the way… this is so crazy. They best be ready though because I think Britney will be able to have a case here this time. No matter what they try, the public is watching now.

I have no doubt in my mind it’s going to show up as a topic in a future hearing (assuming there are more) 

[HIM]

7 hours ago, Tetris said:

I mean, they have full ownership if they’re independent. 
But, to my knowledge, a record label financially backs the production of an artist’s records, hence the trade off for a level of master ownership/executive input because they’re the ones paying for it to exist in the first place (not the artist). 

Comepletey agree. 
 

what not sits well with me is when they control whether they sign with someone else or if they wanna sing, sell their image to a different company. They’re like no we own you. Your face cannot appear on an album with your name on it. 

[MissSpearsSaysSo]

No idea but I’m guessing RCA owns her masters. They’re intellectual property and Britney’s signed to a contract, so she’s producing a commodity for them. So weird when you think about it. 
 

Though, I would hope that she owns the masters/rights to very personal songs like Someday, My Baby, and even Everytime. That would be nice. 

[ThisMeowBiteback]

The person who wrote the songs have the masters/ownership 

The songs that Britney wrote she has ownership of them & split it between people she co-wrote  with 

[rik]

8 hours ago, MissSpearsSaysSo said:

No idea but I’m guessing RCA owns her masters. They’re intellectual property and Britney’s signed to a contract, so she’s producing a commodity for them. So weird when you think about it. 
 

Though, I would hope that she owns the masters/rights to very personal songs like Someday, My Baby, and even Everytime. That would be nice. 

Imagine her owning all of In the Zone

8 hours ago, ThisMeowBiteback said:

The person who wrote the songs have the masters/ownership 

The songs that Britney wrote she has ownership of them & split it between people she co-wrote  with 

but I think songwriters don’t always have the ability to own the masters. They’ll get a percentage I’m sure though 

[Avatar]

Last I heard, Britney owns her masters. She was one of the highest paid entertainers through most of her career. Most of her peers were not making much money from their music and did not have the endorsement deals that she had all over the world and that gave her the leverage in negotiations.. Before the conship, her business affairs were always handled very well. The one thing Larry was good at, was making sure the largest amount of money was coming in from whatever deal she made, so he could get the highest payment for his cut.

I don't know if she bought them at one point or if a deal was made for her to own them if she gave the label a certain percentage of other things she did. 

[Ivmusic]

I’m sure all of her early albums the record labels owns the masters… when she renegotiated her contract it’s possible that she wanted the rights to her masters to her newer albums. It’s hard to say without reading the recording contract

[Y2KLady]

2 hours ago, Avatar said:

Last I heard, Britney owns her masters. She was one of the highest paid entertainers through most of her career. Most of her peers were not making much money from their music and did not have the endorsement deals that she had all over the world and that gave her the leverage in negotiations.. Before the conship, her business affairs were always handled very well. The one thing Larry was good at, was making sure the largest amount of money was coming in from whatever deal she made, so he could get the highest payment for his cut.

I don't know if she bought them at one point or if a deal was made for her to own them if she gave the label a certain percentage of other things she did. 

This is very interesting food for thought. Thank you so much for posting!

Let's go with this hypothetical. If Britney owned her masters before the conservatorship, could her conservators have sold her masters as a way to make themselves more money? Or would even they have recognized that move as foolish? Larry was still very much involved, so, in this hypothetical situation, I would presume that he would have advised against selling off the masters.

We need to know the current status of her masters. Who owns them? Britney should own them. 

[Y2KLady]

11 hours ago, Rik said:

No sign of Britney in the report however I was still surprised with what all was in it. The timbaland catalogue and homecoming being owned by another party, that too from two very very big artists with a lot of money makes me think that Britney very well might not be able to buy back her masters with $62 million. That’s of course a lot of money which I know could probably fix an entire country in some cases, but Britney herself should be worth around $900 million. I am worried a bit actually, however I don’t know if perhaps the legalities of the conservatorship will allow Britney to gain her money back and then do what she pleases with it?? Idk

 

 I genuinely agree with you by the way… this is so crazy. They best be ready though because I think Britney will be able to have a case here this time. No matter what they try, the public is watching now.

I have no doubt in my mind it’s going to show up as a topic in a future hearing (assuming there are more) 

Thanks so much for this great reporting. 

I loved your line about $62m being able to fix small countries. AMEN!

Regarding your question about whether Britney can regain her money, this is a very sticky wicket in the law. It's going to take a long time, and one full of baby steps. The system is not built to help her get out of the conservatorship, which was illegally placed on her with zero basis on evidence.

My hope is that Rosengart's strategy is to prove that the conservatorship was null and void in the first place, which waives all of the court strictures that bind Britney.

If he doesn't follow that strategy, this is what I presume her case would look like.

First, she would have to prove that she has so-called "capacity," and negotiate or work with whichever parameters the court gives her to prove so-called "capacity." Brit basically has to prove that she is capable of caring for herself so that she can be legally recognized as a full person with civil rights. 

Regaining custody of her kids and her estate, I imagine, would be the next steps. The masters are a part of her estate, and who knows who holds any of these assets. 

But he is a brilliant strategist and effective communicator, so I know that he won't follow the bureaucracies of the probate court laws. Those laws don't apply to her, because the conservatorship was devoid of the necessary evidence in the first place.

 

 

[Y2KLady]

47 minutes ago, Ivmusic said:

I’m sure all of her early albums the record labels owns the masters… when she renegotiated her contract it’s possible that she wanted the rights to her masters to her newer albums. It’s hard to say without reading the recording contract

Absolutely this.

I would love to know what the recording contract(s) say.

 

[rik]

1 minute ago, Y2KLady said:

If Britney owned her masters before the conservatorship, could her conservators have sold her masters as a way to make themselves more money

THIS. if they hypothetically own the masters then, would they try to sell them off or keep them for themselves to get out of jail, or nourish themselves for life? They’re that shady. 

On the other side of it….. 

It’s very possible they considered purchasing the masters, however im not even sure how affordable they might have been for the team. I think Britney is actually worth more than all the pop stars out, minus Rihanna (even that we can dispute later because we genuinely don’t know why so much of Britney’s money on behalf of the Britney Spears foundation was sent to Mercy Ministries in 2011). I think it’s very weird to me…... she may very well be a billionaire and she might not even know it. 

Spoiler

Not to self promo but I also made a whole documentary about this actually 

If Britney does get out of this, I do want her to seek out purchasing her masters or “re-owning” them if she ever did you know? Like… this could change everything for her too. Baby, Toxic and Oops alone are likely worth millions. 

[SlayOut]

11 hours ago, ThisMeowBiteback said:

The person who wrote the songs have the masters/ownership 

The songs that Britney wrote she has ownership of them & split it between people she co-wrote  with 

Well considering she has writing credits on most of BJ, I guess she gets the most money from those songs.  Too bad it’s the least streamed album in the fan base!

[rik]

@SUCCESSICA IS A QUEEN @SlayOut FINALLY FEATURED AT THE END OF PAGE 4. THATS CALLED NOT HAVING PAYOLA

unlike @Blackout2006  

 

[ObsessedBritFan1]

Osama Bin Ladin 

[road44]

On 8/23/2021 at 7:00 PM, Rik said:

These are pretty timeless and extremely commercially successful songs till this day. I’m not sure how much they would be relative to artists like Janet, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Queen, Madonna, Tupac, etc….. but she’s easily amongst the legends dead and alive. Her music has a very classic and universal aspect to their compositions that are genuinely very impressive when listened to, whether it’s from the beginning of her career till now. 

I’m assuming masters are very expensive to own.  We know Britney could be worth up to over $900 million dollars… which is sad because I don’t want to see her as a product. But how much are they? I’m assuming that classic songs like baby one more time, slave 4 u, oops I did it again, crazy, and toxic especially are worth a lot.

it’s unlikely she owns them. Who does though? And how much are they worth?

 

@PokemonSpears @Jordan Miller @SlayOut @SUCCESSICA IS A QUEEN @LindsayLohan @Midnight@I Always Sing Live

Girl you done opened a worm hole of questions! 

[amiro1989]

Britney has to keep an eye on this, because someone could sabotage her by selling her masters if she ever owned them at one point in them.

Jamie could have also made himself the owner of these masters, which would be a complete clownery.