Neil Young sold half the rights to his song catalog to Hipgnosis, in the same week the publisher acquired catalogs from former Fleetwood guitarist Lindsay Buckingham and super producer Jimmy Iovine.
The deal covers Young’s entire catalog of 1,180 songs, with Hipgnosis taking over 50% of the world’s copyright and catalog revenue in exchange for an undisclosed amount of money that will certainly reach nine digits.
The Hipgnosis Songs Fund was founded in 2018 by Merck Mercuriadis, who has previously managed artists such as Elton John, Guns N ‘Roses and Beyoncé. In December, after launching the company on the London Stock Exchange in 2018, he announced that the company’s market capitalization had reached £ 1.25 billion. In the first six months of 2020, the company generated £ 50 million in revenue, double the same period in 2019.
Part of Hipgnosis’ growing revenue comes from the use of its song catalog on film and television, as well as in advertising. Young is notoriously resistant to his music being used in advertisements, singing in 1988 on This Note’s for You: “I’m not singing for Pepsi / I’m not singing for Coca / I don’t sing for anyone / It makes me look like a joke. “
Mercuriadis recognized Young’s stance, saying: “We have a common integrity, ethos and passion born out of a belief in music and these important songs. There will never be a ‘Golden Burger’, but we will work together to ensure that everyone can hear them on Neil’s terms. “
“Burger of Gold” is a reference to a concert by Neil Young in 1973, where he revealed that he was invited by an unidentified company to use the hit Heart of Gold in an ad and joked that he would have to rename the song Burger of Ouro if he had agreed.
Mercuriadis said he had been a fan of Young’s since he was seven, when he bought the album Harvest. He referred to his albums as “part of who I am, they are in many ways responsible for who I have become and they are certainly in my DNA”.
Earlier this week, Hipgnosis also acquired 100% of Lindsay Buckingham’s catalog of 161 songs, including hits he wrote for Fleetwood Mac, such as Go Your Own Way, plus 50% of all songs not yet released. Mercuriadis hailed him as “one of the greatest guitarists, composers and producers of all time, but he is still so underrated”.
He also acquired royalties from the world producer of 259 songs from Jimmy Iovine, who produced artists such as Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Patti Smith before founding the technology company Beats Electronics, which was purchased by Apple for $ 3 billion in 2014. Iovine said that his work had found “The Right House,” and that he would use the proceeds to finance the construction of a high school in Los Angeles.
Hipgnosis started by buying catalogs from famous composers and producers like Timbaland, The-Dream, TMS and Rodney Jerkins, before purchasing catalogs from artists like Mark Ronson, Barry Manilow, Steve Winwood and Blondie.
The stars who sell their catalogs have become a major trend in the music industry in recent years, including former Buckingham bandmate Stevie Nicks, who sold 80% of his song publishing rights to a rival publisher, Primary Wave , in December.
Later that month, the most attractive deal of all came: Bob Dylan selling his entire catalog to Universal Music Group for an estimated sum of over $ 300 million (£ 225 million). Universal called it “the most significant music publishing agreement of this century and one of the most important of all time”.