NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM
The Hipgnosis Song Fund has continued its string of acquisitions by purchasing 42 catalogues comprising more than 33,000 songs from Kobalt Music Copyrights S.à.r.l.
Purchased for $322.9 million, the sale includes songs by Fleetwood Mac, 50 Cent, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and many others.
Hipgnosis’ acquisition – the biggest in music publishing since Concord acquired Imagem for over $550m in summer 2017– follows its recent acquisitions of catalogues by Blondie, L.A. Reid, RZA, and The-Dream, among others.
Although the catalogues were owned and sold by investors in Kobalt Capital Limited, the songs will continue to be administered by Kobalt, according to the announcement.
Some of the songs included in the new deal include: ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ and ‘One Sweet Day’ by Mariah Carey, ‘Roar’ and ‘Teenage Dream’ by Katy Perry, ‘In Da Club’ by 50 Cent, ‘Sorry’ by Justin Bieber, ‘Halo’ by Beyoncé, and ‘Hot In Herre’ by Nelly.
“Hipgnosis has had a special relationship with Kobalt Music since its inception so it’s only natural that we would eventually make a deal like this for Kobalt Capital’s inaugural fund,” Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited and The Family (Music) Limited, said.
“Willard, Johan and Laurent have curated a wonderful portfolio of proven songs that is incomparable with almost anything other than the Hipgnosis Songs catalog which it complements beautifully,” he continued. “They are both small catalogs with songs of great cultural importance and an incredibly high degree of success within them from amongst the most important songwriters and artists in music’s rich history.”
Speaking on the songs Hipgnosis acquired from Kobalt, Mercuriadis added: “These special songs that have had such extraordinary success have a lot more joy to bring the world and we look forward to working with these phenomenal creators in taking their songs to new heights while protecting their legacies.”
Laurent Hubert, Kobalt Music Group’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Since 2018, Hipgnosis has been a client and as Merck continues to grow his Catalogue of songs, one thing will remain constant: Kobalt will continue to deliver best-in-class publishing admin services.”
Following the acquisition, the Hipgnosis Songs Fund portfolio comprises 117 catalogues and 57,000 songs. The firm says its post-Kobalt-deal catalogue carries an aggregate acquisition value of $1.5 billion.
The post Hipgnosis buys Kobalt catalogue, including songs by Fleetwood Mac and 50 Cent appeared first on NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM.
