🎵Justin Bieber's Coachella Set Sparks Music Copyright Debate
Bieber's Coachella Performance Raises Music Ownership Questions
TL;DR
Justin Bieber performed his old songs at Coachella without owning the rights, raising questions about music ownership and performance rights. The set was reportedly worth $10 million and included early hits like 'Baby' and 'Favorite Girl'.
Justin Bieber's headlining set at Coachella on Saturday sparked a debate over music ownership and performance rights. Despite selling his entire music catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management (now Recognition Music Group) in December 2022, Bieber played parts of his older songs off YouTube from a Mac laptop during the show. The relevant copyright here is the public performance right in the songs, which are administered by performance rights organizations (PRO). Venues like Coachella will enter into agreements with PROs to license an entire repertory of songs, allowing performers to play any song from the catalog. Recognition Music Group may now hold the right to get royalties from those licenses, but Bieber never needed to own those rights to perform his old songs.
Key Points
Bieber sold his entire music catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management (now Recognition Music Group) in December 2022.
The setlist included early songs like 'Baby,' 'Favorite Girl,' 'That Should Be Me,' 'Beauty and a Beat,' and 'Never Say Never.'
Bieber spent part of his time on stage playing parts of his older songs off YouTube from a Mac laptop.
Why It Matters
Developers, tech leads, and engineering managers can relate to the complexity of music ownership and performance rights. Just like how they navigate licensing agreements for open-source software, musicians must also consider the intricacies of copyright law when performing their work.
Comments
Be the first to comment
Enjoyed this article?
Get it daily. 7am. Free. Reads in 5 minutes.
Join 3,488 builders reading daily.