Hipgnosis Songs Capital has announced that they have acquired Justin Bieber’s 100% interest in his Publishing Copyrights, Master Recordings and Neighboring Rights for Bieber’s entire back catalog, comprising over 290 titles released before December 31, 2021. The deal, worth $200 million, as reported by Billboard, is the largest rights sale for any artist of Bieber’s generation. It’s also Hipgnosis’ biggest acquisition to date.

Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie has sold her 115-title song catalog, including hits such as 'Don’t Stop', 'You Make Loving Fun', 'Over My Head', 'Songbird', and 'Say You Love Me', to Hipgnosis, Music Business Worldwide reports. McVie first joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970 helping them become one of the most commercially successful music artists of the past 50 years, with the Grammy-winning 1977 album 'Rumours' selling more than 45 million copies worldwide. Hipgnosis has spent more than $2 billion in three years acquiring rights to a vast number of popular songs. Hipgnosis’s filings reveal that McVie's 115 songs acquired in the deal generated $1.7 million in 2020, $1.72m in 2019 and $1.58m in 2018. Hipgnosis usually pays an average multiple of 15 times the annual income, which would bring the price to McVie's songs to approx. $100 million.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are selling the publishing rights of their catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Fund for upwards of $140 million, Variety reports. The transaction marks the latest catalog sale from a major legacy artist and one of the highest profile acquisitions to date for Merck Mercuriadis’ fund.

A very interesting theory in The Baffler about Hipgnosis and similar investment funds which buy rights to old hit songs, and make cash from those songs being played or remade. "This puts them in a curious position with regard to 'new music', which they must perforce view with a combination of avarice, suspicion, and fear. Every original song that gains cultural traction drains potential listeners—and therefore revenue—away from the Hipgnosis portfolio, diluting the value of their assets... In their ideal world, therefore, there are no original songs, no fresh styles or hybrid genres—nothing, in short, which might lure listeners away from the necrotic embrace of 'Can’t Touch This'”.

Decades before Merch Mercuriadis's Hipgnosis Fund started spending billions of dollars on famous artists' catalogs, David Bowie did a similar thing. In 1997 he sold 10-year-security on his entire catalog for $55 million to Prudential Insurance at a fixed interest rate, backed by the royalties from his pre-1990 master recordings and publishing. In essence, he gave up a decade's worth of royalties on 'Heroes', 'Life on Mars', and everything else in exchange for an immediate payout, MusicREDEF reminded us and started a thread about it. Last 12 months Bob Dylan, Shakira, Imagine Dragons and many others did a similar thing - it's a lasting deal, not just 10 years.

Shakira has sold 100 percent of the publishing rights to her entire catalog of 145 songs - including hits such as 'Hips Don’t Lie', 'Whenever, Wherever', 'She Wolf', and 'Waka Waka' - to Hipgnosis Songs Fund. Shakira is the bestselling female Latin artist of all time, and she currently has over 32 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Music Music Worldwide reports. Hipgnosis, the company that invests in music catalogs this year alone has bought catalogs from Jimmy Iovine, Lindsey Buckingham, and Neil Young.

Neil Young has sold 50 percent of the worldwide copyright and income interests in his 1,180 song catalogue to the U.K. investment firm Hipgnosis Songs, Variety reports. This deal includes both 50% of the publisher's share and 50% of the writer’s share in Young’s music, spanning his work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Crazy Horse, in addition to the singer/songwriter’s full solo catalog. Industry experts Music Business Worldwide consulted suggest that the deal would have cost Hipgnosis in the region of $150m. Hipgnosis's Merck Mercuriadis told Rolling Stone "there will never be a ‘Burger of Gold’", since Young has never licensed his music for commercials.

An interesting webinar 'Why Artists Are Selling Their Music Catalogs' about reasons why so many artists sold their catalogs in 2020, the companies that want them, and where this trend is heading. Two main reasons for artists - loss of income due to the pandemic, and lower taxes in the US (which will probably be raised soon).

Hipgnosis Songs has struck a big-money deal to acquire Jimmy Iovine’s worldwide producer royalties across 259 recordings, which includes U2, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Eminem, Simple Minds... Iovine rose to prominence as an engineer in the 1970s, working with John Lennon ('Walls & Bridges', 'Rock & Roll'), Bruce Springsteen ('Born To Run', 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'), Patti Smith ('Easter' and its single 'Because The Night'), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (3 times platinum 'Damn The Torpedoes'). In the 1980s Iovine produced a run of blockbuster albums for Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, U2, Simple Minds, and The Pretenders, Variety reports.

Hipgnosis Songs has acquired more than 33,000 songs from Kobalt Music Copyrights S.à.r.l. for $322.9 million, including songs from 1,500 songwriters, Music Business Worldwide reports. The catalog includes hits such as Fleetwood Mac’s 'Go Your Own Way' and 'The Chain', 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' and 'One Sweet Day' by Mariah Carey, 'Bailando' and 'Hero' by Enrique Iglesias, 'Higher Love' by Steve Winwood, 'Roar' and 'Teenage Dream' by Katy Perry, 'Halo' by Beyoncé, 'Love Shack' by the B-52s, 'In Da Club' by 50 Cent, 'Sorry' by Justin Bieber, 'Let It Go' from Disney’s 'Frozen' soundtrack and thousands more. Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited total portfolio now comprises 117 catalogs and 57,000 Songs, with an aggregate acquisition value of £1.18 billion ($1.525 billion).

Church of England now co-owns Whitney Houston's 'I'm Your Baby Tonight', Bobby Brown's 'Don't Be Cruel', Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies', and Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams', BBC reports. English church is one of hundreds of investors in Hipgnosis, a company that spent over $1bn buying popular songs with the aim of generating income by streaming. Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis says the music he's bought is "more valuable than gold or oil", and expects it to generate income for decades to come.

Hipgnosis Songs has acquired 100% of Grammy Award-winning songwriter, producer and music executive L.A. Reid's publishing interests and writers share of income in his 162-song catalog. Reid's catalog includes Boyz II Men’s Grammy-winning 'End of the Road', Bobby Brown’s 'Every Little Step', 'Don’t Be Cruel', 'Roni' and 'Rock Wit’Cha', as well as Whitney Houston’s smash 'I’m Your Baby Tonight' and 'Queen of the Night', from 'The Bodyguard'. LA Reid He has also scored hits with the Whispers, Sheena Easton, Karyn White, TLC and Toni Braxton. Hipgnosis Songs' revenues soared in its first full year of business, climbing to $81 million in the 12 month period ended in March 2020 from around $8.9 million in the preceding period, Music Business Worldwide reports. The firm, which has been on an unprecedented acquisition binge of hit songwriter and producer catalogs - between March 2019 and March 2020, the company spent nearly $700 million to acquire 42 catalogs.

Blondie Hit songwriting duo Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, as well as pop singer and author Barry Manilow have sold their future royalties to a fast-growing investment fund Hipgnosis, Rolling Stone reports. That means their income from 197 Blondie songs, including 'Heart of Glass' and 'Rapture', as well from 917 Manilow's songs, including 'Mandy', 'I Write the Songs' and 'Copacabana (At the Copa)', now goes to the Hipgnosis Songs Fund. Founded by music industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis, the fund allows investors to see an income from music royalties. Hipgnosis has spent over $1 billion in song acquisitions since 2018, picking up catalogs from artists, songwriters and producers and amassing a collection of hits from the likes of Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, star producer Mark Ronson and Blink-182 co-founder Tom Delonge.

Music industry blog Music Business Worldwide talked to Mark Mercuriadis, CEO and founder of Hipgnosis, about its novel business model. The company has spent billion dollars, across approximately 60 deals, to buy 12,000 songs, including those which have powered an array of hits such as Rihanna’s 'Umbrella', Ed Sheeran’s 'Shape Of You', Al Green’s 'Let’s Stay Together', Eurythmics’ 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)' and Beyoncé’s 'Single Ladies'... How did he get that kind of money? - “The important thing to remember in that context is, in order to spend $1bn, you have to have $1bn to spend. And you have to have a thesis that is appealing to investors to want to back you with that sort of money". Over the next two years, Hipgnosis will be at $2.5bn invested, with a catalog of 50,000 songs. Then what? - "in six or seven years they’ll probably be worth two to three times what they’re worth today”.