Hipgnosis Songs Fund has announced that it has acquired a music catalogue from Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, an American record producer, songwriter, music publisher and multiple Grammy winner. The Company has acquired a 100% interest in Tricky’s catalogue including has ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) income.
Tricky Stewart’s Catalogue
The catalogue comprises 121 songs in total, including 8 US Top 10 Pop singles, 3 US Number 1 Pop singles and multiple Grammy winners. Hipgnosis’s manager says that the catalogue is highly complementary to The-Dream catalogue, which was acquired by the Company on 11 July 2018. It says that this is because Tricky co-wrote many of the most important songs in that catalogue including Umbrella (Rihanna), Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (Beyoncé), Baby (Justin Bieber), Me Against The Music (Britney Spears & Madonna) and Touch My Body (Mariah Carey).
Exposure to Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream
In addition to songs co-written with The-Dream the catalogue includes numerous other songs with Katy Perry from one of her most successful albums, Teenage Dream, and other songs with Christina Aguilera, Rick Ross, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Scherzinger and Ciara.
“A tremendously important acquisition”
Commenting on the purchase, Merck Mercuriadis (Founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited), said, “This is a tremendously important acquisition for Hipgnosis and me. In addition to giving us greater ownership of multiple Grammy Award winning Number 1 songs like Rihanna’s Umbrella and Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) we are also reuniting the catalogues of Tricky Stewart and The-Dream who are arguably the finest song-writing duo of their time. These songs are big pop successes but it’s sophisticated music of the highest order and these songs are already classics not to mention by the culturally most important artists of their time. Tricky is a tremendous individual, writer, producer and musician whose work backs up all of the tremendous accolades and success. This is family!”
What Tricky Stewart had to say…
“There is a right way and wrong way to do everything. The sale of my catalogue to Hipgnosis is right for me. Selling to a friend who is fuelled by purpose, motivated to do great things, with a disruptive spirit and vigour caught my attention, and ultimately led to me completing this transaction. I’m truly blessed to have these kinds of options in my life and for that WE GIVE GOD THE GLORY. Over the next 5 years I will be creating another catalogue filled with Hits and culture, and I’ll do it all over again! I love music and music loves me.”
The manager likes the deal too
Mark E. Stewart, Tricky Stewart’s Manager, says, “When Trick and I discussed selling his catalogue, Merck was the first person I heard from. Merck and Hipgnosis are definitely buyers that have respect for the songs and for the writers who created them, and even the stories behind the creations. Merck is a music man first, but happens to make deals with the utmost respect for the creator. Closing a major transaction like this with a man like Merck made perfect sense because of our long lasting working relationship. I congratulate him and Hipgnosis on another great acquisition.”
About Hipgnosis Songs Fund
Hipgnosis Songs Fund aims to provide its shareholders with an attractive and growing level of income, together with the potential for capital growth, from investment in songs and associated musical intellectual property rights. It will seek to acquire 100 per cent. of a songwriter’s copyright interest in each song, which would comprise their writer’s share, their publisher’s share and their performance rights. In appropriate cases, however, the company may not acquire all three elements of the songwriter’s interest. The company will acquire interests in songs which are sole authored or co-authored. The company may also acquire interests in songs jointly with another purchaser.
The company will, directly or indirectly via portfolio administrators, enter into licensing agreements, under which the company will receive payments attributable to the copyright interests in the songs which it owns. Such payments may take the form of royalties, licence fees and/or advance payments, including:
- mechanical royalties – when a copy of a song is made, whether physical (e.g. CDs, DVDs) or digital (e.g. permanent downloads, streaming, webcast);
- performance royalties – when a song is performed live or broadcast on TV or Radio, or when a song is streamed online; and
- synchronisation fees – when a song is used in another form of media (e.g. movie, TV show, video game, advertisement).
The Company will focus on delivering income growth and capital growth by pursuing efficiencies in the collection of payments and active management of the songs it owns.
You can access the company’s website here.