Katy Perry’s massive $350m music catalogue sell-off

Katy Perry is the latest music star to sell the rights to her music, inking a massive deal for all five of her major label studio albums released to date.

Katy Perry has inked a massive deal for the rights to her music. Picture: Getty

Singer Katy Perry is the latest music star to sell the rights to her music, inking a massive deal for all five of her major label studio albums released to date.

Billboard reports that Perry has sold the rights to the five albums she released between 2008 and 2020 to Carlyle-backed Litmus Music. The outlet reports that the deal is valued at $US225m, or $AU350m.

The albums were released via Capitol Records, whose former president Dan McCarroll is the co-founder of the music rights company.

The albums One of the Boys, Teenage Dream, PRISM, Witness and Smile are included in the deal, home to a multitude of smash hits which Litmus is now free to licence for money to recoup on their massive investment.

While the terms of the deal are top-secret, Perry could score an estimated $AU350m from the sale. Picture: Getty

Perry’s first album, a little-heard 2001 Christian rock record released under her real name of Katy Hudson, is not included in the deal.

In a statement, McCarroll said: “Katy Perry is a creative visionary. I’m honoured to be partnering with her to help Litmus manage her incredible repertoire.”

Perry joins a growing number of music stars selling the rights to their back catalogues for eye-watering amounts.

The sale of legacy artists’ back catalogues has been a growing practice in recent years, with companies like Litmus and Hipgnosis Song Management – which Variety reports spent more than $US3 billion ($A4.4 billion) in just three years – snapping up artists’ songs for eye-watering sums.

While the terms of many of these deals remain top secret, perhaps the biggest sale in recent times came when Bob Dylan transferred the rights to his entire back catalogue of more than 600 songs to Universal in 2020.

Experts estimated that the deal would’ve cost Universal more than $US300m ($A440m).

Other acts to take the plunge in recent years include Blondie, Justin Bieber, Stevie Wonder, Iggy Azaela and – in a deal inked before her death last year – Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie.

Originally published as Katy Perry’s massive $350m music catalogue sell-off