Another week, another catalog acquisition by Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
Following last week’s news that the company had acquired a 37.5% interest in the Bernard Edwards music catalog, the Merck Mercuriadis-founded company has been shopping again, this time for a music catalog from British songwriting and music production team TMS.
TMS, which has written for the likes of Jess Glynne and Little Mix, consists of Thomas ‘Froe’ Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Peter ‘Merf’ Keller.
The catalog comprises 121 songs including 10 Top 5 UK singles with five No.1 songs and the songs have appeared on 13 Top 5 UK albums including seven No.1 albums.
Hipgnosis has acquired a 100% interest in the catalog except for the writers’ share of performance income.
The catalog includes songs such as Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself for Jess Glynne, Wings and DNA for Little Mix, Read All About It (Part 3) for Emeli Sandé, Changing for Sigma featuring Paloma Faith, You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You for James Arthur, and others for Years And Years and Dua Lipa.
It also includes the global Top 10 hit Me, Myself & I by G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha, which has been the recipient of both BMI and ASCAP Awards as a ‘Most Performed Work’.
“Froe, Ben and Murf are highly intelligent songwriters that make terrific pop music which has resulted in 10 UK top 5 singles including five No. 1s.”
Merck Mercuriadis (pictured)
Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said: “Froe, Ben and Murf are highly intelligent songwriters that make terrific pop music which has resulted in 10 UK top 5 singles including five No. 1s.
“They have played a key role in developing the careers of Jess Glynne, EmeliSandé, Little Mix and James Arthur amongst others and their songs feature on 7 No. 1 albums.”
“Having watched what Merck, Nile and Hipgnosis have been building, we’re extremely impressed by all they’ve achieved in a very short space of time.”
TMS
TMS added: “Having watched what Merck, Nile and Hipgnosis have been building, we’re extremely impressed by all they’ve achieved in a very short space of time.
“The catalogues already acquired speak volumes about their ambition and it’s nice to know that our songs will be sitting in some very esteemed company! We’re super happy to be making this deal and pleased that these copyrights will be residing with the best possible custodians moving forward.”
In mid November Hipgnosis announced that it had acquired the music catalog of US songwriter and producer Jason Boyd, AKA Poo Bear for an undisclosed amount.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (HSFL) raised over £200m ($262m) with which to acquire copyrights in June and subsequently IPO’d on the London Stock Exchange in July.
It then reached an agreement to buy its first batch of music rights from Terius Youngdell Nash, aka The-Dream.Music Business Worldwide
