The internet is still reeling from the high of Justin Bieber’s iconic headlining Coachella performance—or, Bieberchella, as Beliebers have so lovingly called it. Aside from his smooth SWAG vocals and minimalist stage design, JB brought out most of his fan-favorite hits like “Beauty and a Beat” and “Baby.” But…there was a catch.
Longtime fans knew he likely wouldn’t bust out choreo like bb Bieber did in the 2010s, but what they didn’t expect was for him to play his older songs through a MacBook on YouTube.
Naturally, the segment drew mixed reactions from festival-goers and online viewers alike, with everyone from Katy Perry to Zara Larsson raising the same question: Why did Justin Bieber play YouTube at Coachella? Let’s break down all the theories and get into the potential reason he didn’t fully sing them live.
The YouTube of it all seemed like a full-circle moment for Justin, who got his start on the video platform as a kid in 2007. He was all smiles as he reminisced about his past, sang along to tracks like “Favorite Girl,” and even played his infamous “It’s not clocking to you” meme. Of course, it brought fans in for a more intimate moment as he heavily focused on tracks from his albums, SWAG and SWAG II, elsewhere in the set.
According to the Daily Mail, the singer potentially couldn’t perform the songs in full after he reportedly sold his entire music catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Capital for over $200 million in December 2022. As a result, fans were quick to theorize that he went the YouTube route as a legal loophole because he no longer owns a share of his masters.
Take that with a grain of salt—just because Justin doesn’t own the rights to more than 290 songs he released before 2021 (including his early-career hits), that doesn’t mean he can’t perform them. According to The Conversation, “the share of the income that would have previously been a royalty payment to Bieber, now goes to Hipgnosis” every time the songs are bought or performed. So, the new owners of Justin’s catalog would earn royalties every time he performs and potentially earn a profit from any streaming spikes, too.
But, legally, he should still be okay to perform them. Just look at Taylor Swift at the Eras Tour, for example. At the time, she didn’t own her original masters (which she has since fully bought in May 2025), but was still able to sing songs like “Love Story.” It’s a similar situation here.
At this time, Justin hasn’t clarified the exact reason he performed his older songs by playing them on YouTube.
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