The boss of a listed music investor today urged corporate titans to step up racial equality efforts in the wake of the George Floyd protests.
Merck Mercuriadis, who runs Hipgnosis Songs Fund and manages Chic star Nile Rodgers, said: “It’s over 50 years since Sam Cooke sang A Change Is Gonna Come but it does not seem that that change is going to take place. People have the best intentions but are leaving it to others to do the hard work.
“We do have an influence as big business – we have the ability to change people’s minds.”
Mercuriadis cited a letter he wrote to legal authorities in Georgia calling for justice after an unarmed black man, Ahmaud Arbery, was shot dead in February. He pointed out that Hipgnosis had spent $100 million in Georgia and many of the songwriters it represents reside there.
“We played a role in [his alleged killers] being arrested and charged… If you can do that with large corporates of the size of say Universal, Sony and Warner you can bring change.”
Hipgnosis today posted a 17.7% surge in its annual net asset value, and shares gained 8% at 115p.
The company buys up existing hits, typically between three and ten years old, and tries to squeeze extra revenues out of them with new commercial deals.
Today it said it had spent £560 million buying up 42 songwriters’ catalogues over the last year, taking the total portfolio to 54 catalogues. It recently bought 70% of hit-maker Mark Ronson’s catalogue.
The firm said its portfolio has been independently valued at £757 million, representing an increase of 11.4% on the aggregate purchase price of £679 million. The analysis will dampen industry speculation that Hipgnosis was paying over the odds for catalogues.
Mercuriadis, who has managed a string of acts including Iron Maiden, Elton John and Beyonce, said the IPO of Warner Music Group was “extremely well priced” and the attractions of the stock were similar to that of Hipgnosis – with both benefitted from the streaming boom.
Warner yesterday delayed the pricing of its forthcoming IPO amid an industry-wide shutdown in support of Black Lives Matter. Today it priced the float at $25 ta share, valuing it at around $11.7 billion.
Mercuriadis said of its media tycoon owner: “Len Blavatnik actually may have made the greatest deal ever in the purchase of WMG.” Blavatnik, who is in line to make around $2 billion from the IPO bought the label for $3.3 billion in 2011.
Separately, WMG and the Blavatnik Family Foundation today launched a $100 million fund to "support charitable causes related to the music industry, social justice and campaigns against violence and racism".
