Justin Timberlake Sells Entire Music Catalog for $100 Million

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

First, he brought "SexyBack." Now, apparently, he's sold it to the highest bidder

Boy band frontman turned R&B-infused pop star, Justin Timberlake has sold his entire music catalog — including the aforementioned hit single — to Hipgnosis Song Management.

Terms of the deal, which makes the 41-year-old 10-time Grammy Award-winner the youngest songwriter to have sold his entire catalog, were not disclosed, but reporting from The Wall Street Journal placed its estimated worth to be just over $100 million.

"Justin Timberlake is not only one of the most influential artists of the last 20 years but he's also one of the greatest songwriters of all time," said Merck Mercuriadis, founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management, in a press release announcing the acquisition. "His hit songs including "Cry Me A River," "Rock Your Body," "SexyBack," "My Love," "What Goes Around… Comes Around," "Suit & Tie," "Mirrors" and "Can't Stop The Feeling" are amongst the most iconic of the period."

The deal gives the company “100% of all of Timberlake’s copyright, ownership and financial interests of the Writer and Publisher’s Share of Public Performance income, and the catalog of musical compositions written by Justin Timberlake”.

Timberlake, for his part, seemed pleased with the deal.

“I am excited to be partnering with Merck and Hipgnosis – he values artists and their creative work and has always been a strong supporter of songwriters and storytelling," the singer said in a statement. “I look forward to entering this next chapter.”

Over the course of his solo career, Timberlake has sales of nearly 90 million (88), and the agreement includes copyrights to approximately 200 songs that he wrote or co-wrote.

He may be the youngest, but Timberlake is far from the first superstar to embrace the trend of selling his catalog in recent years.

Hipgnosis, backed by private-equity firm Blackstone, has been a growing player in that arena since last October when it entered into a partnership in which Blackstone provided approximately $1 billion in funds to acquire more music rights and catalogs.

In January, it acquired 80% of country music superstar Kenny Chesney’s music catalog, and in March it announced a deal to acquire part of Leonard Cohen’s legendary songwriting catalog.

Former NFL Star and Heisman Winner, Ricky Williams, Unveils Name Change

Photo Credit: Instagram @linneamiron

What's in a name?

For one of the best college football players of all time and the second leading rusher in Miami Dolphin's history, it's respect — just not maybe the way you think.

At least that's one reason why legendary University of Texas running back and one of the NCAA's all-time career rushing yards leaders — Ricky Williams — decided to change his to Errick Miron.

It may seem like a strange choice for the 1998 Heisman winner, whose signature dreadlocks enchanted crowds nearly as much as his unstoppable moves on the field, but on a recent episode of “The Dan LeBetard Show with Stugotz,” Miron said it was all about finding balance.

"My wife is an attorney, so she can handle herself, but I’m the famous one. She’s been used to being the hotshot around her friends, but she comes around me, and people forget she exists," Miron, who revealed he made the name change official over a year ago after he got married to his wife, Linnea Miron, said, "I started thinking of ways to create more balance in our relationship, and one of the things that popped into my head was taking her last name.”

Legally his first name has always been Errick, so the switch from that instead of his nickname Ricky was not exactly world-ending, but the decision to take on his wife's last name was a huge one but ultimately worth it to the No. 2 rusher in Miami Dolphin's history.

“It was quick and easy, and it felt really meaningful,” he said. “In every relationship, you want to have some kind of balance, but in the traditional model, it becomes difficult when the male makes all the money.”

As for his old last name, Miron said that it was never something that was really sacred to him.

“It’s like one of those family secrets,” he said. “Williams was my grandmother’s husband’s name, and he wasn’t my dad’s father, so Williams isn’t really my last name. I find more meaning in this last name than Williams.”

While Miron and his wife have made peace and are happy with the change, it might be some time before it catches on. The former NFL star, lifestyle guru and sometimes sports commentator sells cannabis under his old name —something that is unlikely to change soon.

President Biden Signs Executive Order Targeting Police Reform on Anniversary of George Floyd Murder

Photo Credit: Twitter screengrab

Gianna Floyd, the daughter of George Floyd Jr., is presented with the pen President Joe Biden used to sign a police reform executive order inspired by her father in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, the second anniversary of his death.

Two years after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, killed George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds while three fellow officers looked on, President Joe Biden took executive action to reform how policing is done.

On Wednesday, the anniversary of the tragic death which sparked racial unrest and led to countrywide protest, Biden signed an order directing all federal agencies to revise their use-of-force policies.

It creates a national registry of officers fired for misconduct and will use grants to encourage state and local police to restrict the use of chokeholds and neck restraints. The order also restricts the use of no-knock entries to a limited set of circumstances, such as when an announced entry would pose an imminent threat of physical violence.

Happening Now: President Biden signs a historic Executive Order to advance effective, accountable policing and strengthen public safety. https://t.co/mQf2t5DGBt

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 25, 2022

Speaking the day after a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that left 21 dead, Biden blamed Congress' failure to write stronger gun laws in his opening remarks before getting to the issue at hand.

"To heal as a Nation, we must acknowledge that those fatal encounters have disparately impacted Black and Brown people and other people of color. The pain of the families of those who have been killed is magnified when expectations for accountability go unmet, and the echoes of their losses reverberate across generations," Biden, enumerating the reasons for his action, said. "More broadly, numerous aspects of our criminal justice system are still shaped by race or ethnicity. It is time that we acknowledge the legacy of systemic racism in our criminal justice system and work together to eliminate the racial disparities that endure to this day. Doing so serves all Americans."

He added, "It’s a measure of what we can do together to heal the very soul of this nation, to address the profound fear trauma, exhaustion particularly Black Americans have experienced for generations."

The family of Floyd, who was suspected of passing a counterfeit bill, when he was killed on May 25, 2020, joined Biden as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and several civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison last year after his conviction on murder charges. While the officers —Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — who watched on as Floyd expired were found guilty of violating George Floyd's civil rights by a federal jury earlier this year and could face a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty under federal guidelines.