Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Primary Wave and others are on a wave of high-profile music catalog purchases, snapping up publishing rights for composers ranging from Bob Dylan to Stevie Nicks and Neil Young. But Diane Warren, who has been writing hits for 37 years, from DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night” to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” to Toni Braxton’s “Un-Break My Heart” says no intends to sell his songs to anyone.
Merck Mercuriadis, founder / CEO of Hipgnosis and a music expert, is well aware that Warren is not interested, she said in a career-wide interview on our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. “I’m a friend of Merck,” says Warren, who will release a debut album with a guest singer, Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Vol. 1, still this year. “He knows it is not a good start. It would be like selling my soul, and it is not for sale. “
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Warren has his own publisher, Realsongs, which handles all of his material. “The way I started my company was not because I was an experienced business person,” she says. “It was basically because I was in a lawsuit with a publisher. It was right after ‘Rhythm of the Night’, so everyone kind of wanted to hire me and I couldn’t sign anywhere. My lawyer was like, ‘You need to open your own publisher.’ … And then, all of a sudden, all these successes started to happen. And those were songs that I owned and I never looked back. So, it wasn’t because I was super experienced or anything. It just happened. It is my company, with a writer, and it is a very successful company. “
Warren understands why other writers are selling. “I understand,” she says. “I mean, times are tough. And if you need money, publishing is very valuable. Really one of the most valuable assets in the world, I think, is great music. But yes, I am not interested in selling. “
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