Katy Perry sells rights to music catalogue

Music rights business Litmus Music announced it had secured the rights to all five of Perry's studio albums released for Capitol Records between 2008 and 2020, which include 16 multi-platinum singles.

"Katy Perry is a creative visionary who has made a major impact across music, TV, film, and philanthropy. I'm so honored to be partnering with her again and to help Litmus manage her incredible repertoire," Litmus co-founder and chief creative officer Dan McCarroll said.

Katy Perry found fame in 2008 with her second album One of the Boys. Lead single "I Kissed a Girl" became her first number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, staying at the summit for seven weeks.

She remains the first woman and only second artist ever (after Michael Jackson) to have five songs from the same album peak on the Hot 100, according to Billboard.

Perry welcomed a daughter in 2020 with her partner actor Orlando Bloom.

Perry is among a growing list of artists selling the master recordings of their back catalogues.

In January, Justin Bieber sold his share of his own music rights to Hipgnosis Songs Capital for a reported $310 million .

Bruce Springsteen also sold his music to Sony in late 2021, in a mammoth deal worth a reported $775 million.

And Taylor Swift is famously re-recording her entire catalog to maintain the rights over her work after the recordings of her first six albums were sold without her consent.

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Songs are protected by copyright that allows creators to sell or licence in order to make money from their music. Rights are usually shared between the publisher, record label and artist.

After selling their catalogue, artists can continue to make money from touring and future releases. But selling could be a risky move if in the long term the artist could have made more money from keeping the rights and receiving royalty payments than from the lump-sum payment.