Hipgnosis Song Management has today (February 1) announced its second acquisition in as many weeks.
After buying a song catalog and associated income streams from Justin Bieber, the company has now also acquired a song catalog from TMS, the British songwriting and record production trio of Tom ‘Froe’ Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Pete ‘Merf’ Kelleher for an undisclosed fee.
Included in the TMS catalog are songs Someone You Loved and Before you Go, which were hits for Lewis Capaldi and Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself for Jess Glynne.
Like the Bieber deal, the money for the TMS acquisition has come from the private, Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital (not to be confused with the UK-listed public fund, Hipgnosis Songs Fund).
Hipgnosis says it has acquired a 100% interest in TMS’ publishing copyrights (including the writer’s share of performance), producer royalty streams and neighbouring rights for 217 Songs in the TMS catalog.
Back in 2018, Hipgnosis Song Management acquired 121 compositions by TMS on behalf of the UK-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund, including compositions recorded by G-Eazy, Sigma and Emeli Sandé.
The writers’ share of those songs is included in this latest acquisition by Hipgnosis Songs Capital.
TMS have co-written records for artists including Lewis Capaldi, Dua Lipa, John Legend, Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran, Lily Allen and Bebe Rexha, among others. They have collectively had 20 Top 10 singles, sold over 15 million records, accumulated over 5 billion streams and have contributed to over fifty top 40 albums.
Hipgnosis says that it now co-owns 90 of the 356 Songs in Spotify’s Billions Club of Songs played over one billion times on the platform with 81 in the Hipgnosis Songs Fund and 17 in Hipgnosis Songs Capital (8 Songs are partly owned by each).
News of Hipgnosis deal with TMS follows last week’s confirmation that Justin Bieber has agreed to sell a career-spanning catalog to Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital (HSC) in a nine-figure deal.
MBW understands that, prior to the Bieber deal, Hipgnosis Songs Capital (not to be confused with the UK-listed public entity, Hipgnosis Songs Fund) had spent around $300 million on previous acquisitions. Those HSC acquisitions have included catalogs/income streams associated with artists such as Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Leonard Cohen, and Kenny Chesney.
Sources close to HSC suggest the fund has spent over $600 million.
Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved is 7 times Platinum in the UK and is the UK’s most-played song of all time on Spotify.
It is also the fourth most streamed Song ever on Spotify globally having been played over 2.6 billion times.
Released in November 2018 it reached the UK No.1 slot in March 2019 where it remained for seven weeks. It spent three weeks at No.1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and over six months in the European Airplay Top 40 Chart.
The UK Official Charts Company named it the biggest single of 2019. The Song has won numerous awards including Song of the Year at both The Brits and the ASCAP London Music Awards, Best Song of 2019 and Most Played Song at the Global Awards, BBC Teen Song of the Year and Q Awards’ Best Track.
TMS were represented by Paul Centellas at North Pole Management and Sonia Diwan at Sound Advice.
“Froe, Ben, Merf and their manager Paul Centellas have been an important part of the Hipgnosis family for many years now so it’s fantastic that we’ve been able to continue our relationship.”
Merck Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Song Management
Merck Mercuriadis, Chief Executive and Founder of Hipgnosis Song Management, said: “Froe, Ben, Merf and their manager Paul Centellas have been an important part of the Hipgnosis family for many years now so it’s fantastic that we’ve been able to continue our relationship with this new acquisition including what will undoubtedly be a contender for song of the decade with Lewis Capaldi’s iconic Someone You Loved.”
“It’s incredible to see what they’ve built in just a few short years and we know they’ll continue to represent these songs with passion and commitment.”
Tom ‘Froe’ Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Pete ‘Merf’ Kelleher (TMS
Tom ‘Froe’ Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Pete ‘Merf’ Kelleher (TMS) said: “We’re incredibly proud of this body of work and know Merck and the family at Hipgnosis will be excellent custodians of these copyrights in future.
“It’s incredible to see what they’ve built in just a few short years and we know they’ll continue to represent these songs with passion and commitment.”
Paul Centellas, Managing Director, North Pole Management, said: “Nobody is doing more to elevate the standing and value of the songwriter than Merck and the team at Hipgnosis, so we’re very happy to entrust them with these incredible copyrights and look forward to working with them across various initiatives to ensure the songwriter is properly valued and remunerated in future. Without songwriters, there is no music business.”
In March 2022, Hipgnosis Song Management announced the acquisition of a career-spanning catalog created by legendary Canadian artist and composer Leonard Cohen.
That marked a landmark deal for the private, Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital ICAV fund, which launched last year with an initial commitment from Blackstone of around $1 billion.
Prior to the announcement of its deal for the Leonard Cohen catalog, in January, Hipgnosis announced it had acquired an 80% stake in the recorded music royalty stream of country star Kenny Chesney.
Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital (Hipgnosis Songs Capital ICAV) is a separate entity to the UK-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
Both of those funds (Hipgnosis Songs Capital and Hipgnosis Songs Fund) have their investments managed by Hipgnosis Song Management, in which Blackstone is also an investor.Music Business Worldwide
