Justin Bieber’s YouTube Coachella group had nothing to do with who owned his music

Last Saturday at the Coachella music festival, Justin Bieber played the first of two headlining sets at the Deal It is said to be worth $10 million. This was his most important solo performance in years. But Bieber spent some of his time on stage the way many of us do on Saturday nights: on YouTube. For some of the set, Bieber played parts of his old songs live on YouTube from a Mac laptop. Behind him, on the stage screen, you could see YouTube’s website as he searched for songs in real time and then showed the videos full screen as he sang on stage.

“I’m sorry to cut it short, but these are little excerpts. I just want to see how far back you go,” he told the audience at one point. This part of the setlist included early songs such as “Baby”, “Favorite Girl”, “That’s Supposed to Be Me”, “Beauty and a Beat” and “Never Say Never”. Bieber who It was discovered thanks to YouTubeso show up two Covers From him when he was a young child singing songs.

For longtime Bieber fans, the clips may have been a fun trip down memory lane. But according to Daily Mail“The real reason Justin cannot play all of his old music has now been revealed, as he sold his entire music catalog in December 2022,” he said, speculating that the sale “may be the reason why he is so focused on his new music.” (Bieber’s catalog was sold to Hipgnosis Song Management, which has since been rebranded as… Get to know the music groupannounced in 2023).

However, based on what experts say EdgeThis is not the case.

“the Daily Mail Daniel J says: Schacht, intellectual property, music and entertainment lawyer: “It’s wrong about that.” Edge. “Selling his music catalog did not stop Bieber from performing his songs.”

“That’s not how it works,” says James Grimmelman, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School. “That’s not how any of it works.”

When Bieber sold his back catalogue, Recognition took over the publishing of the copyright and master recordings. according to Hollywood Reporter. But “the relevant copyright here is the public performance in the songs,” Grimmelman explains. These rights are managed by Performance Rights Organizations (PROs), and venues like Coachella will enter into agreements to license the full range of organizations so that “performers can then perform any song from the catalog.” While Recognition Music Group may now have the right to obtain royalties from those licenses, Bieber “never needed to own those rights to be able to perform in any situation covered by the PRO licenses.”

In theory, Bieber and Recognition could have negotiated specifically that he couldn’t perform his old songs. However, Schacht points out that “a catalog sale that restricts an artist’s right to perform music would be unprecedented, and the good news is that there is no such restriction in Bieber’s deal.” He also points out a more practical consideration: “Why would the new owner want to stop interest in original videos and recordings? This seems like a positive point for them, including increasing the flow of original works.”

A source familiar with the catalog sale also He said Bulletin board that the claim was “nonsense”, saying: “There are no restrictions on what he can or cannot do in live performance.”

By the way, it wasn’t just the songs Bieber played on YouTube: He and everyone at Coachella also watched a clip of Young man Bieber walks into a glass doorone Where he falls off the stagea recently infamous clip where he is He scolds the photographers For not “logging time” because he is “standing at work”, Deez Nuts videoand Double rainbow video.

“Well, I was drawn into the deep dark web,” he said during the Double Rainbow video, rising from his seat. “We gotta keep this show going, man. Let’s do this.”