Blogocentric Formulations

Ghost

         

| Day 13 |





"Ghost"
by Justin Bieber

On the thirteenth of this month, I was actually in the Sacramento area for a dedication ceremony for my mom. After her passing in November 2020, the county fire department approved plans to build a memorial at my parents' local firehouse with a bench, plaque, and a free "little library" where people can come to borrow a book and return it, or take one and replace it with another one. My parents had been instrumental in starting the local fire safe council (a nonprofit that helped the community raise funds for clearing dry brush, fire awareness education, etc.), and my mom was an avid reader, so it felt like a really nice opportunity to celebrate her, especially since my dad has no plans to do a formal memorial service.

This was a song I listened to a lot over the past year since its release, and I'm also including it because Justin Bieber was just in the news for selling his entire music catalogue to a private equity firm for $200 million. And, on the face of it, $200 million is a whole lot of money (I think it might even be the biggest sale of a musician's catalogue (Bob Dylan's sold for $150 million, I think). But Bieber is also a relatively young artist and it seems to me like the catalogue might be more valuable in the long run if he has years and years left of making music, touring, etc. I can understand why older artists might sell toward the end of their careers (it's easier to enjoy and then bequeath cash rather than music publishing/licensing rights to your descendants) but I'm really curious whether $200 million will end up being a steal for the equity firm in the long run, if Bieber keeps performing and making music. Strange times we live in, where bankers are buying music rights from artists. Then again, they're trying to buy up pretty much everything else (real estate, trademarks and other intellectual property, naming rights, etc.) so why not music catalogues as well?