We haven’t talked about Britney Spears in months. Either Britney has been quieter, or people are giving her some space. In either case, I’m glad. I’ve felt for a while that Britney needs to unplug and live a life far away from all cameras. She’s actually been pretty quiet since last fall, which is when Kevin Federline released his memoir full of some pretty awful stories about Britney. I bring up K-Fed because their sons have officially aged out of the child support and custodial arrangement set up by Kevin and Jamie Spears. Britney no longer has to pay Kevin anything, and I think she’s financially free of her father as well. But after years of her father mismanaging her money, Britney probably didn’t have as much as people thought. Which is probably why this happened: Britney has sold her catalog for nine figures.
Britney Spears just signed a massive new music deal … one that sells her rights to her extensive music catalog … TMZ has learned. According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Britney sold her ownership share of her catalog to Primary Wave, a music publisher.
It’s unclear how much Britney was paid for the music … the exact dollar amount is not in the documents, but our sources described the agreement as a “landmark deal” in the ballpark of the $200-million deal Justin Bieber signed when he sold his music.
The docs show Britney, who’s managed by Cade Hudson, put pen to paper to sell the music on December 30 … and our sources say she’s happy with the sale and has been celebrating by spending time with her kids.
The deal includes Britney hits like “(You Drive Me) Crazy,” “…Baby One More Time,” “Break The Ice,” “Circus,” “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know,” “Everytime,” “Gimme More,” “Hold It Against Me,” “I Wanna Go,” “If U Seek Amy,” “I’m a Slave 4 U,” “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” “Lucky,” “My Prerogative,” “Oops!… I Did It Again,” “Overprotected,” “Piece of Me,” “Sometimes,” “Stronger,” “Till The World Ends,” “Toxic” and “Womanizer” … just to name a few.
The Princess of Pop joins a growing list of artists who have sold their music catalogs in recent years … including huge acts like Bieber, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Shakira, KISS, Sting, Phil Collins, and Stevie Nicks.
I’m realizing that I have no idea how these catalog sales really work, because Britney rarely wrote her songs – she mostly performed songs written by established hitmakers. How can she “sell” songs which she didn’t write, I guess that’s my question. That’s why Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Phil Collins’ catalog sales were a big deal – they owned their songs, they wrote their own songs. Still, I assume Britney’s people and Primary Wave have it all worked out (??) and I’m glad Britney is getting that cash.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red and Britney Spears’ Instagram.
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- Britney Spears announces her new Las Vegas residency at The Park Theater,Image: 391719219, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Judy Eddy / Wenn / Avalon
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- 173935, Britney Spears at the 4th Hollywood Beauty Awards at Avalon Hollywood. Los Angeles, California – Sunday February 25, 2018. Photograph: © PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000,Image: 534741262, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – DIRECT SALES ONLY – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- Britney Spears attends the premiere of “Once Upon A time …in Hollywood” in Los Angeles on Monday, July 22nd, 2019Photograph: © PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com,Image: 536715406, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com, Model Release: no, Credit line: PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- Hollywood, CA – Ron Rolleston and Britney Spears attend the 4th Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards at Avalon Hollywood in Hollywood, California. Pictured: Britney Spears BACKGRID USA 25 FEBRUARY 2018 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Two things:
1) There are different kinds of royalties. Performance rights (which she would have as a singer) and songwriting rights are the two main ones. She could have sold merely the performance rights and still have made a bundle considering how popular her music was and continues to be
2) Pop singers of her level often are given songwriting credits even if all they did was “la la la” or nothing at all. Think Beyonce, who is credited as a songwriter on much of her work, even if she didn’t write the song. Or how actors get “executive producer” or “producer” credits on movies and TV even if they did bugger all for the work. It’s a standard contractual perk, if you have the leverage
Thanks for that explanation.
On your 2nd point re the songwriting credits: does that mean the “star” paid the actual songwriter a lump sum on the front end for transferring the songwriting credits? Or do they just get a cut of album (showing my age here) sales?
I imagine there is a rather large team here that deserves a piece of the pie.
@Gabby: No, what happens is that any song produced through a record company (as opposed to being self-published) gets the rights sliced up. There isn’t an exchange of money among the creatives. Performance rights are for those who perform, but they have less value than songwriting rights for various reasons, which is why major recording artists ask for those rights in their contract with a record company even if they contribute nothing to a song. Royalties are then paid by the owner (studio, record company, etc) to those who own rights.
Think of it like a pie: on a given song or artistic creation in many mediums, there are a given number of slices, handed out according to leverage:
–Many, many songwriters, screenwriters, etc are simply uncredited (often because they’re young and willing to give them up to move ahead in the industry), so no slice. Or if you’re a younger actor/actress; no producer credit for you, unless the show is cheap to produce overall and whatever studio that owns it doesn’t expect it to last, so they hand you a vanity credit
–Others with established careers (read: a hit or two, or industry reputation, like script doctors) can with a good agent negotiate their songwriting, screenwriting or exec producer credit
–A star, like a Beyonce, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez…or Britney Spears, can simply say “Give me a songwriting credit or I’ll go to another record company”. Same with an established actor or actress. And royalties are on top of a cut of sales
Streaming economics are different and I won’t bore everyone with the details as they’re OT. And @Sunshine, both Dolly and Whitney performed ISALY, so both of them get the performing royalties but only Dolly gets the really valuable royalties, which is the songwriting credit. I can’t speak to Chaka Khan as I don’t know that specific situation or the song but I’m sure you could find more information online
I don’t think this is correct. Especially your first point. I say this based on 2 recent interviews.
David Foster recent discussion re a Chaka Khan song which he and 2 others wrote. Kanye’s sample goes solely to the writers.
Another is Dolly Parton discussing her ISALY loyalties. Again, even though Whitney took it to the stratosphere, it belongs to Dolly.
It seems like she waited to sell so kfed wouldn’t profit in any way and while her music still has demand. Seems very smart. I hope she has good financial management and will just invest it all and live off of the interest or something.
Well I hope for Britney that the money is set up in some kind of investment account and that she will be set for life.
She seems to have a good legal team around her even thou they were not able to get any of the money her family and Lou Taylor stole from her back, this should set her up for the rest of her life.
Lets hope she surrounds herself with good people who are not going to fleece her.
Same, have a stable income so she can live comfortably and privately and not be beholden to anyone.
Ugh, this will send a bat signal to future leeches. She hasn’t a single boyfriend who hasn’t lived off her.
Good for her! Daddy doesn’t get a cut. Lou Taylor doesn’t get a cut. Larry Rudolph doesn’t get a cut. KFed doesn’t get a cut. She deserves to fully profit from years of being treated like an enslaved workhorse by others.
Britney, quiet? No, she’s been busy dangerously drunk driving and hanging with her felon boyfriend.
It’s smart to sell those rights for many singers. They can put the money in stable investments and allow someone else to do the hard work of doing the rights management and defense.
So for whatever reason, postings from a sub called DiscussingBritney keep showing up in my Reddit feed, and most of them are clips she’s posted on Insta dancing in her underwear…or less. There are A LOT of them. I have to say it, she looks unhinged. I hope this money lasts her the rest of her life, so she can just dance in her underwear in her house all day and not worry about how she’ll take care of herself.
Yeah I’ve seen those too. She definitely looks like she’s drugged out.
Same. Some are old clips, but some are definitely new ones. And I’m not sure this will set her up for life. She’s seemingly mentally ill and combining that with drugs, I bet she could burn through a lot of money very quickly.
Thank God she gets a lot of money that her dad can’t steal from her and Kevin can’t mooch off her (to take care of his whole family, including a wife and many kids that are not Britney’s). Great move, Britney!
I just hope this is 100% her decision and not someone taking advantage of her again.
Britney has not been quiet – still posting bonkers “dancing” videos, always about to flash everything, hair tracks showing, dog waste on the floor in the background. She’s really not well.
Britney has been dancing in her underwear on instagram for years now. Her dancing in her underwear is not indicative of her being on drugs. That being said I think we all know she has a mental illness, however, being an LMHC myself when someone looks at someone with a mental illness and says ‘she’s unhinged she needs help,’ is not helpful for the person it only serves to make them feel more insecure and depressed. Just an FYI. I say this from experience when I was first starting in my career and when I looked at at a woman with the same sentiment it only led to her feeling more unstable because she felt I didn’t feel she would be OK, and that is the opposite of how I would ever have wanted to make her feel. So, when I read or hear people express the same sentiment it’s like nails on a chalkboard for me.