Sony Wants to Spend $4B on Justin Bieber and Neil Young Songs — Here's Why They Are Worth So Much

Sony Music Group is finalising a deal to acquire Blackstone's Recognition Music Group for between $3.5 billion and $4 billion (£2.57 billion to £2.94 billion), in what would rank as one of the largest music rights transactions on record, The Straits Times reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

The acquisition would be structured through a joint venture between Sony and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, which the two parties established in January with an initial commitment of $2 billion (£1.47 billion) to purchase music assets. Sony is in exclusive negotiations with the private equity giant and both sides are pushing to close within the next seven days, though the talks could still collapse.

Sony shares climbed roughly 3 per cent on Wednesday following the news, Stocktwits noted.

Recognition Music Group owns or manages rights to more than 45,000 songs and recordings across nearly 150 catalogues. Its roster includes works by Justin Bieber, Neil Young, Shakira, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, Journey, 50 Cent and The Chainsmokers.

What Makes 45,000 Songs Worth $4 Billion

The price reflects a fundamental shift in how the music industry generates money. Global recorded music revenues reached $31.7 billion (£23.3 billion) in 2025, according to the IFPI's Global Music Report 2026—marking the industry's eleventh consecutive year of growth. Streaming now accounts for nearly 70 per cent of total revenue and surpassed $22 billion (£16.2 billion) for the first time. There are 837 million users of paid streaming subscription accounts worldwide.

Catalogues from established artists generate predictable, recurring income through streaming royalties, sync licensing for film and television, and performance rights collections. Unlike new releases, which carry significant marketing risk, a catalogue from an artist like Neil Young or Shakira comes with decades of proven listener demand.

Private equity has taken notice. Blackstone has built a music portfolio worth an estimated $4 billion (£2.94 billion) since 2017 through a series of acquisitions, according to Billboard. The firm bought the London-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund for $1.6 billion (£1.18 billion) in April 2024, folded it into its existing holdings and relaunched the combined entity as Recognition Music Group under chief executive Ben Katovsky.

Sony has already bought pieces of this portfolio. In June 2025, it acquired Hipgnosis Songs Management—Recognition's administration arm—along with about 4,400 songs by artists including Sabrina Carpenter and One Direction. In February this year, Sony purchased another batch of Recognition assets for more than $200 million (£147 million), including works from songwriters Jeff Bhasker and Jack Antonoff.

Sony's Multi-Billion-Dollar Music Buying Spree

This latest bid is not a one-off. Sony has spent billions assembling what is now the largest music publishing catalogue in the world.

In 2024, it acquired Queen's recording and publishing rights for approximately £1 billion ($1.27 billion), outbidding a rival offer of $900 million (£662 million). Three years earlier, it paid an estimated $500 million to $600 million (£368 million to £441 million) for Bruce Springsteen's entire catalogue. It also purchased Bob Dylan's recorded music for a reported $150 million to $200 million (£110 million to £147 million) in 2022. And its 2018 acquisition of the EMI Music Publishing catalogue for $4.75 billion (£3.49 billion)—which included songs by Drake, Kanye West and the Motown back catalogue—remains its single largest rights deal to date.

Sony has relied on financial partners to share the cost on several of these transactions. Apollo invested roughly $700 million (£515 million) into the Queen acquisition. Eldridge Industries backed the Springsteen deal. The GIC partnership extends this approach, giving Sony access to sovereign wealth fund capital for high-value catalogues.

Sony is not alone in the space. Warner Music Group partnered with Bain Capital in 2025 to create a vehicle for catalogue acquisitions, and the recent merger of Concord with BMG underscores growing competition for premium music assets.

If finalised, the Recognition deal would hand Sony control of one of the last major independent catalogues on the market—and push its total spending on music rights well past $10 billion (£7.35 billion) in the past decade.