Justin Bieber used a MacBook and YouTube to perform snippets of his older hits during his headlining set at the Coachella music festival this past Saturday.
The performance, part of a deal reportedly worth $10 million, featured the singer searching for tracks like "Baby" and "Never Say Never" in real time on the stage's large screens.
Following the set, the Daily Mail suggested the truncated performances were due to Bieber's 2022 sale of his music catalog to Recognition Music Group. The outlet speculated the sale prevented him from playing full versions of his classic songs.
The reality of performance rights
Legal experts say the theory regarding the catalog sale is factually incorrect.
"The Daily Mail is wrong about that," said Daniel J. Schacht, an IP, music, and entertainment attorney. "The sale of his music catalog did not prevent Bieber from performing his songs."
James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell Tech, added that the speculation fundamentally misunderstands music licensing.
"That's not how this works," Grimmelmann said. "That's not how any of it works."
While the sale transferred publishing copyrights and master recordings to Recognition Music Group, the rights to perform songs in public are managed differently.
These public performance rights are administered by performance rights organizations (PROs). Large-scale venues like Coachella enter into broad agreements with these organizations to license entire repertoires, allowing artists to perform their hits legally.
