A London-listed firm offering investors the chance to make money from the royalties of tracks by famous artists has struck a deal for the catalogue of the songwriter and producer whose credits include Lady Gaga’s global hits Poker Face and Bad Romance.
Hipgnosis has acquired the music catalogue of Grammy-winning producer and songwriter RedOne, who produced six songs on her 2008 debut album, The Fame. RedOne credits also include One Direction, Nicki Minaj, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez.
The company has acquired 100% of RedOne’s songs and recorded music interest, covering 337 tracks, for an undisclosed amount.
“Lady Gaga and RedOne represent one of the greatest producer/artist songwriting relationships of all time,” said Merck Mercuriadis, the founder of Hipgnosis. “They single-handedly put electronic dance music on the radio and changed the sound of pop music for more than a decade.”
Earlier this month the investment firm, which aims to build a valuable portfolio of rights to songs, raised £236m. This exceeded the £200m the company had targeted and its biggest equity raise to date.
Mercuriadis, a former manager of acts including Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden and Beyoncé, hailed the scale of the fundraising effort in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic as “speaking volumes for the financial community’s recognition of songs as an asset class”.
Other deals for high-profile catalogues include the Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart, the Justin Bieber remix of global hit Despacito and the writers of hits including Rihanna’s Umbrella and Beyoncé’s Single Ladies.
The company has spent £679m snapping up 54 catalogues and more than 13,000 songs, while making £64m in revenue in the year to the end of March, according to its most recent annual report.
The firm has an advisory board including Nile Rodgers.
