Sony Music is finalizing a deal with Blackstone to acquire a music catalog that includes works by artists such as Justin Bieber and Neil Young. If completed, the transaction would rank among the largest music rights acquisitions in history. Sources indicate that Sony has entered exclusive negotiations to purchase Blackstone's Recognition Music Group, which owns or administers the rights to more than 45,000 songs. Sony plans to form a joint venture with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC to carry out the acquisition, with the transaction value estimated between $3.5 billion and $4 billion. Both Blackstone and Sony Music have declined to comment. The parties are aiming to complete the deal within the next week, although negotiations could still fall through at the last minute. Several other entities have attempted to acquire Recognition, with at least one believed to have made an offer higher than Sony's. However, Blackstone declined to share data with some bidders and has continued negotiations exclusively with Sony's music copyright division. Notably, Sony already serves as the administrator for this catalog. A successful deal would mark the third multi-billion-dollar music rights transaction in recent months, following the merger of Concord and BMG and the acquisition of Kobalt by Primary Wave Music. Despite a slowdown in global music market growth, investors continue to commit significant capital to music rights. Over the past decade, Blackstone has amassed a substantial portfolio of music rights, much of which was originally held by UK-based Hipgnosis Songs Management. During a period of industry recovery driven by streaming, Hipgnosis, under then-leader Merck Mercuriadis, acquired thousands of songs, contributing to rising prices for music copyrights. Hipgnosis previously purchased Justin Bieber's catalog for over $200 million and acquired a portion of Justin Timberlake's songs for more than $100 million. Facing competition from financial buyers like Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, and KKR, the three major music companies—Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music—have engaged in rights acquisitions through joint ventures with investors. These structures allow record labels to acquire assets at higher prices without overburdening their own finances. Sony's joint venture with GIC was established earlier this year. Reports had previously indicated that Sony was in negotiations for the Recognition portfolio.