music
Who Owns Katy Perry's Masters? Litmus Bought the Royalties, Capitol Kept Control
In brief
Who controls Katy Perry's classic Capitol catalog?
For Ownswho's 2025 reference year, the clean answer is split: Litmus Music owns Katy Perry's acquired royalty and publishing stake in five Capitol-era albums, while Capitol Records, now part of Universal Music Group, is still publicly reported to control the underlying master recordings for those albums. Carlyle's Global Credit platform backs Litmus, but the exact equity split behind Litmus has not been publicly disclosed by the parties.
So when people ask who owns Katy Perry's masters, the practical answer is: Litmus owns the income stream Perry sold; Capitol/UMG still sits at the center of the recorded-master structure.
Katy Perry's masters: who owns them today?
Katy Perry's masters are not controlled by one simple owner in the way fans often imagine. In September 2023, Litmus Music announced a deal covering all five of Perry's studio albums released for Capitol Records between 2008 and 2020: One of the Boys, Teenage Dream, PRISM, Witness, and Smile carlyle.com. Reuters reported that the deal covered rights to those five albums and that Billboard valued the transaction at about $225 million, while Carlyle declined to comment on the price reuters.com. Complete Music Update later described the structure more precisely: Perry sold her royalty rights in the recordings and her stake in publishing, while Capitol, an EMI label when she signed and now part of Universal Music, still owns and controls the recording rights completemusicupdate.com.
| Asset or right | Publicly identified owner or beneficiary | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Underlying master recordings | Capitol Records / Universal Music Group | Capitol is publicly reported to still own and control the recording rights for the five covered albums completemusicupdate.com. |
| Perry's master royalty income | Litmus Music | Litmus receives the artist-side royalty economics Perry sold in the 2023 transaction litmusmusic.com. |
| Perry's publishing stake | Litmus Music | The sale also included Perry's stake in music publishing rights tied to the covered songs completemusicupdate.com. |
| Post-2020 recordings | Not part of the named Litmus sale | The official deal announcement named only the five albums released from 2008 to 2020; Perry's 2024 album 143 was announced separately via Capitol Records universalmusic.ca. |
How Katy Perry's Capitol catalog changed hands
Perry's commercial catalog is closely tied to Capitol. Universal Music Group describes Capitol Music Group as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and lists Capitol Records as the flagship label within Capitol Music Group universalmusic.com. The same UMG label page lists Katy Perry among Capitol's contemporary artists universalmusic.com. That matters because a major-label recording deal usually separates the master recording copyright from the artist's royalty participation. In Perry's case, the public reporting says that the label-side recording rights remained with Capitol/UMG, while Litmus bought the money rights Perry could sell.
The 2023 transaction arrived after a long period in which music catalogs became financial assets. Litmus itself was launched in August 2022 by music executives Hank Forsyth and Dan McCarroll with Carlyle Global Credit, which initially committed $500 million in equity and debt to the platform carlyle.com. The launch release said Litmus would acquire and manage music rights across both publishing and recorded music carlyle.com. Perry's deal was therefore not a one-off celebrity headline; it fitted Litmus's stated business model.
The covered albums explain the valuation. The official Litmus and Carlyle statements say the package included 16 multi-platinum singles from the five Capitol albums carlyle.com. RIAA's certification database lists major Perry releases under Capitol, including Teenage Dream, PRISM, Witness, and One of the Boys riaa.com. Those certifications are why the deal is best understood as a sale of durable royalty streams rather than a simple sale of old songs.
The 2023 deal moved Katy Perry's royalty economics, not necessarily the label's legal master files.
The Litmus-Carlyle-Capitol structure behind Perry's masters
The legal and economic layers are different. Capitol Records is the label connected to the recordings, and Capitol Music Group is part of Universal Music Group universalmusic.com. UMG says it owns and operates businesses across recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audiovisual content in more than 60 territories universalmusic.com. Litmus is the music-rights buyer and catalog manager. Carlyle is the capital provider behind Litmus through its Global Credit platform, but the parties have not publicly disclosed a simple percentage ownership table for Litmus.
Recording control
Capitol / UMG: Public reporting says Capitol still owns and controls the recording rights for the five covered albums, while UMG owns Capitol Music Group completemusicupdate.com.
Royalty economics
Litmus / Carlyle: Litmus manages the acquired music rights, and Carlyle Global Credit supplied capital for the Perry partnership from its Credit Opportunities strategy carlyle.com.
This means the beneficial owner question is not fully answered by one name. For the purchased artist-side income stream, Litmus is the direct rights buyer. Behind Litmus, Carlyle Global Credit is the disclosed financial backer, and Forsyth and McCarroll are the disclosed founders and operators carlyle.com. For label-side master control, Capitol/UMG remains the key institution identified in public reporting. For voting control, there is no public shareholder-style vote attached to Perry's masters; practical control sits in the relevant contracts between label, artist, catalog buyer, publishers, platforms, and licensees.
Money, royalties and control in the Katy Perry deal
The money side is clearer than the corporate cap table. Reuters reported that Billboard placed the value of the transaction at $225 million, but also noted that Carlyle declined to comment on the valuation reuters.com. That makes $225 million a reported figure, not a confirmed line item from Carlyle's own release.
| Question | Best public answer | Source basis |
|---|---|---|
| What was sold? | Perry's recording royalty rights and her publishing stake in five Capitol albums. | Detailed by Complete Music Update and aligned with the official Litmus announcement completemusicupdate.com. |
| What was the reported price? | Approximately $225 million, reported by Billboard and repeated by Reuters. | Reuters said Carlyle declined to comment on the deal value reuters.com. |
| Who operates the catalog? | Litmus manages the acquired rights; Capitol/UMG remains central to the label-side recordings. | Litmus says it manages music rights; UMG lists Capitol Music Group as a subsidiary litmusmusic.com. |
| Who has final licensing power? | It depends on the use: masters, publishing, sync, samples, and advertising can require different approvals. | The public documents identify separated recording and publishing layers, not a single all-purpose controller universalmusic.com. |
What the Katy Perry masters deal means
For Perry, the deal converted future catalog income into a large upfront payment. For Litmus and Carlyle, it created exposure to a catalog with proven streaming, radio, sync, and cultural value. For Capitol/UMG, the deal did not publicly remove the label from the recordings; it changed who receives Perry's sold royalty participation. That distinction matters because a fan may hear "sold her masters" and assume the entire master copyright moved to Litmus. The better reading is narrower: Litmus bought a valuable bundle of rights connected to the masters and publishing, while Capitol/UMG remains central to the recorded-music chain.
It also means Perry's songs now sit inside a financial ownership model common in modern music. Litmus was built to acquire and manage recorded music and publishing rights, with Carlyle's credit platform supplying capital carlyle.com. As songs like "Firework", "Roar", "Dark Horse", "California Gurls", and "Teenage Dream" keep earning, part of the economics that once flowed to Perry now flows to Litmus. Perry may still have other rights, performer income, name-and-likeness value, touring income, and future-recording economics, but the five-album catalog package is no longer simply hers.
The most important limit is time. The announced Litmus deal covered the five albums from 2008 through 2020 carlyle.com. It did not name Perry's 2024 album 143, which Universal Music Canada announced as a Capitol Records release universalmusic.ca. Unless a later disclosed transaction says otherwise, the 2023 Litmus deal should not be treated as covering every Katy Perry recording past and future.
Frequently asked questions
Does Katy Perry own her masters?
For the five main Capitol albums released between 2008 and 2020, public reporting says Capitol/UMG still owns and controls the recording rights, while Litmus owns Perry's sold royalty and publishing stake completemusicupdate.com.
What exactly did Katy Perry sell to Litmus?
She sold rights tied to five Capitol albums: One of the Boys, Teenage Dream, PRISM, Witness, and Smile. The public descriptions point to her master royalty rights and publishing stake, not a full transfer of Capitol's label-side master ownership carlyle.com.
How much was the Katy Perry catalog deal worth?
Reuters reported that Billboard valued the deal at about $225 million, while Carlyle declined to comment on the price. That makes the figure widely reported but not formally confirmed by Carlyle reuters.com.
Who owns Litmus Music?
Litmus was founded by Hank Forsyth and Dan McCarroll with Carlyle Global Credit. Carlyle said it initially committed $500 million in equity and debt, alongside management capital, but the exact ownership percentages are not publicly disclosed carlyle.com.
Does the Litmus deal include Katy Perry's 2024 album 143?
The official Litmus announcement named only five albums released between 2008 and 2020. 143 was announced in 2024 as a Capitol Records release, so it should not be assumed to be part of the 2023 sale universalmusic.ca.
Who benefits when Katy Perry's old hits stream today?
The revenue is split through the normal recorded-music and publishing chains. Capitol/UMG remains central to the recordings, Litmus receives the sold Perry-side economics, and other songwriters or publishers may receive their separate shares depending on each song's credits and contracts.
Key takeaways
The bottom line
- Litmus Music owns Katy Perry's acquired royalty and publishing stake in five Capitol-era albums.
- Capitol Records / UMG is still publicly reported to control the underlying recording rights for those albums.
- The reported transaction value was about $225 million, but Carlyle did not publicly confirm that price.
- Carlyle Global Credit backs Litmus, while Litmus founders Hank Forsyth and Dan McCarroll operate the catalog business.
- The deal named albums released from 2008 to 2020, so later recordings should not be assumed to be included.
Final word
Katy Perry's masters are best understood as a split-control case. Litmus Music bought the valuable income rights Perry could sell; Carlyle supplies the financial platform behind that buyer; and Capitol/Universal remains the central label structure around the recordings themselves. That is less tidy than saying one company owns everything, but it is the more accurate picture.