“I think that in due course other people will be saying, ‘I need to be in songs.’”
That was Merck Mercuriadis, the music industry executive turned entrepreneur, who spoke with Matt Hendrickson for Marker last year about why he is spending upwards of $1 billion via his Hipgnosis Songs Fund to own the rights to thousands of pop songs, from Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” to Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” Along the way, he’s garnered a reputation for being the most aggressive buyer in the music industry.
An increasing number of musicians now appear ready to sell. As artists continue to sit on the sidelines — unable to go on tour and perform at live concert venues — many of them are cashing in by selling all, or parts, of their catalog to investors in the music business. Last December, after years of being courted by music industry execs, Bob Dylan struck a deal with Universal Music Group, reported to be worth more than $300 million. “Music assets are bought and sold all the time, but there’s never been a period as active as the past few months,” report Lucas Shaw and Thomas Seal for Bloomberg Businessweek.
And investors like Mercuriadis are ready to pounce. “What Mercuriadis is doing with Hipgnosis isn’t so much innovative as it is opportunistic,” Hendrickson writes. “Ultimately, his goal with Hipgnosis — which went public on the London Stock Exchange in June 2018 — is to own 15% to 20% of the overall publishing market.”
