Hipgnosis (SONG) has announced the acquisition of the music catalogue of Jimmy Iovine, described as a legendary and highly influential record producer in the 70’s and 80’s and one of the most important record executives and music entrepreneurs of all time.
Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of Jimmy Iovine’s catalogue of worldwide producer royalties comprising 259 songs and his film production royalties for ‘8 Mile’ and ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
‘Jimmy Iovine rose to prominence as an engineer working with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen’
Jimmy Iovine rose to prominence as an engineer working with John Lennon (‘Walls & Bridges‘, ‘Rock & Roll‘) and Bruce Springsteen (‘Born To Run‘, ‘Darkness On The Edge Of Town‘). In 1978 he produced Patti Smith’s critically acclaimed, ‘Easter‘, one of the most culturally important albums of its time, and its UK Top 5 hit single ‘Because The Night‘. Following up on this success, Jimmy Iovine produced Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ breakthrough third album ‘Damn The Torpedoes‘ in 1979 which was certified 3x platinum in the US in the year of its release. ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ first Top 10 album, reaching Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 200, and in 2012 was named by Rolling Stone as one of their “500 Greatest Albums of all Time”. The album included two hit singles with ‘Don’t Do Me Like That‘ and ‘Refugee’ which reached Number 10 and Number 15 in the US respectively as well as ‘Even The Losers’ which, whilst not released as a single, has become one of the highest regarded songs of Tom Petty’s repertoire.
SONG notes that in the 80’s Jimmy Iovine produced some of the most important albums of the decade including Dire Straits’ ‘Making Movies’, Stevie Nicks’ debut solo album ‘Bella Donna’, U2’s ‘Under a Blood Red Sky’ and ‘Rattle and Hum’, Simple Minds’ ‘Once Upon A Time’, and The Pretenders’ ‘Get Close’.
‘Jimmy Iovine co-founded Interscope in 1990’
Moving away from production in 1990, Jimmy Iovine co-founded Interscope becoming one of the most prominent figures in the music industry and one of the most important people in Hip Hop, developing the careers of Tupac, Dr Dre and Eminem. He also reinvigorated U2 with their album ‘All That You Can Leave Behind‘ and hit single ‘Beautiful Day‘, both of which reached Number 1 all over the world, before going on to have massive success with Gwen Stefani, Nine Inch Nails, Black Eyes Peas, One Republic, Lady Gaga and many others. Interscope was the hottest label in music for many years and “The House That Jimmy Built” continues to have massive success today.
‘Co-production of Eminem movie 8 Mile in 2002’
In 2002, Jimmy Iovine co-produced the box office hit ‘8 Mile’ starring Eminem which grossed over $240m. The soundtrack has been certified 4x platinum in the US alone and sold over 15 million copies globally. It was the second biggest selling album of 2002 whilst ‘Lose Yourself’, a Number 1 single all over the world and arguably the most influential song of its time, won an Academy Award for “Best Original Song”. Three years later Jimmy Iovine co-produced the film ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ based on 50 Cent’s album of the same name. Jimmy Iovine was executive producer on the soundtrack which has sold over three million copies worldwide.
Merck Mercuriadis, the founder of SONG, said:
“While barely in my teens I noticed that so many of my favourite albums had one name in common. The best albums by John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith all had Jimmy Iovine on them. This continued through the 80’s with Stevie Nicks, Dire Straits, U2, Simple Minds, The Pretenders and more from Tom and Patti and I have been glued to everything Jimmy does ever since. His incomparable success with Interscope and Beats means that he would never have to make a deal for money again, but leave it to Jimmy to figure out the most efficient way possible to use his producer royalties to build a best in class high school in the inner city and once again make a massive difference, as he has throughout his life. It’s an honour to now be a custodian of his incredible work on these iconic albums and I’m very happy to welcome him to the Hipgnosis family.”
SONG: Hipgnosis begins 2021 with Jimmy Iovine catalogue buy