You didn’t think he was done, did you?
Merck Mercuriadis, the maverick founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, is launching a new investment firm targeting artist management companies and music catalogs through a partnership structure that gives acts and their representatives ownership stakes.
The Financial Times reported on Saturday (July 5) that Mercuriadis’ new venture has already secured commitments in the “hundreds of millions” of dollars, citing people familiar with the matter.
The FT quoted Mercuriadis as saying: “I’m going to amass five or six really important management companies, all of which have superstar artists and superstar managers that go with them.
“It’s all about them having control and all about them making the majority of the money [rather than labels].”
Mercuriadis also plans to buy music catalogs that will provide “very predictable, reliable, low-risk” income, according to the FT.
Mercuriadis’ new company – just like his former company – will be called Hipgnosis.
Mercuriadis stepped down as chairman of Hipgnosis Song Management last year after Blackstone acquired publicly traded Hipgnosis Songs Fund for $1.584 billion (approximately a $2.2 billion enterprise valuation) in July 2024.
“I’m going to amass five or six really important management companies, all of which have superstar artists and superstar managers that go with them.”
Merck Mercuriadis
Following that transaction, HSF’s 40,000 songs were combined with the privately held Hipgnosis Songs Capital (aka Hipgnosis Songs Assets) – home to copyrights associated with Leonard Cohen, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado, and Kenny Chesney – along with the investment adviser, Hipgnosis Song Management.
This combined, Blackstone-owned company was then rebranded to Recognition Music Group, removing Hipgnosis’ famous upside-down elephant logo.
In turn, this left Mercuriadis free to revive it for his new venture.
Mercuriadis told the FT, as he previously mentioned at Canada’s Departure conference, that one of his long-term ambitions is to buy back the $2 billion+ catalog of music rights he assembled at (the old) Hipgnosis.
“One of my goals is to buy the catalog back. Blackstone are very smart people. They’re getting a great return on the catalog that I put together.”
Merck Mercuriadis
“One of my goals is to buy the catalog back. Blackstone are very smart people. They’re getting a great return on the catalog that I put together. So I’m going to have to pay properly for it,” he said.
“The one thing that everyone has said post the sale is, ‘OK, this [sale price] now seems cheap.’”
Nearly a month ago, Recognition Music Group formed a Senior Advisory Group and appointed Matt Spetzler as Chairman, alongside Lisa Alter and David H Johnson as members. Spetzler is the founder of Jamen Capital and a veteran technology and media investor.
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