Britney Spears Parts Ways With Full Music Catalogue Rights

Britney Spears has agreed to sell the rights to her full music catalogue.

Primary Wave is set to assume control of Spears’ ownership stake in a long list of her biggest hits, including Baby One More Time, Oops! I Did It Again, Lucky and I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman, along with many other tracks from her career.

According to TMZ, the agreement was completed on 30 December. The exact figure has not been publicly confirmed, though a source told the publication the amount was comparable to Justin Bieber’s reported $200 million deal to sell his catalogue to Hipgnosis Songs Capital in 2023.

Rolling Stone notes that Primary Wave has built a reputation for acquiring the catalogues of some of the industry’s most iconic artists.

In March last year, the company purchased a 50 per cent share in The Notorious B.I.G.’s estate, and over time it has also secured agreements with the estates of Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Prince and The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek. Stevie Nicks sold her publishing catalogue to the company in 2020.

For many performers, these types of deals can bring in a major financial return while removing the ongoing responsibilities that come with managing a catalogue.

Spears, who was freed from her widely publicised 13 year conservatorship in 2021, has not put out a studio album since 2016’s Glory. She recently stated that she does not plan to perform in the United States again.

"I will never perform in the US again because of extremely sensitive reasons," she wrote on Instagram in January. "But I hope to be sitting on a stool with a red rose in my hair, in a bun, performing with my son in the UK and Australia very soon."