Britney Spears Sells Copyrights in Bulk... Deal Size 'Confidential'

Pop icon Britney Spears has confirmed the execution of a bulk copyright sale transaction.

On the 10th (local time), the U.S. daily New York Times (NYT) and entertainment media TMZ reported that Spears sold all catalog rights to Primary Wave, a music and marketing company based in New York.

The catalog is a 'bundle of musical assets' accumulated by the artist throughout their career, including copyrights and performance royalties, among other music-related rights. NYT confirmed the sale through sources close to the transaction, but the exact contract size and detailed terms were not disclosed.

TMZ estimated that the deal size would be close to Justin Bieber's 2023 copyright sale level. Bieber had transferred his catalog rights for $200 million (approximately 291.1 billion won) at that time.

In the U.S. music industry, the trend of bulk copyright sales has recently become mainstream. This is due to an increasing number of artists preferring short-term high earnings over long-term divided profits. Major musicians like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, and Shakira have also sold their catalog rights.

Spears is a superstar who dominated the global pop music scene from the late 1990s to the 2000s. With hit songs like 'Baby One More Time', 'Oops!... I Did It Again', and 'Toxic', she enjoyed a peak comparable to Madonna.

However, after the late 2000s, her popularity plummeted due to various scandals, including drug abuse controversies, legal disputes with her family, and in-flight incidents. After the release of her regular album 'Glory' in 2016, she effectively ceased her activities and declared through Instagram in 2024 that she would "never return to the music industry." Last month, she reiterated that she would "never perform in the U.S. again."