LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — Merck Mercuriadis, founder of the music investment firm Hipgnosis, has announced plans to launch a new music IP investment venture.
According to the Financial Times, the new group will bring together artists and managers as co-owners in a partnership structure that will focus both on creating new music and acquiring rights to existing songs.
Sources told the FT that Mercuriadis has already secured investor commitments in the “hundreds of millions” of dollars and is currently in talks for the venture’s first two acquisitions.
“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,” Mercuriadis said. “It’s all about them having control and all about them making the majority of the money.”
The 61-year-old Canadian music executive and artist manager—who has overseen the careers of artists such as Guns N’ Roses, Morrissey, and Pet Shop Boys—founded Hipgnosis Songs Fund in 2018. He helped pioneer the now-booming music IP investment sector, bringing attention to the value of song rights as an asset class.
After raising £300 million in its initial IPO, Hipgnosis went on to acquire the rights to approximately 65,000 songs, ultimately building a catalog valued at around £2.7 billion. The portfolio includes some of the most iconic and commercially successful tracks of the modern era, such as “Baby” by Justin Bieber, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyoncé, and “Umbrella” by Rihanna, among many others.
Mercuriadis stepped down from his leadership role at Hipgnosis Song Management in early 2024, amid increasing shareholder scrutiny over catalog valuations, mounting debt, and corporate governance concerns. Later that year, Blackstone acquired Hipgnosis Songs Fund following a competitive bidding process.
Now, Mercuriadis has expressed interest in reacquiring the $2 billion Hipgnosis catalog from Blackstone.
“One of my goals is to buy the catalogue back. Blackstone are very smart people. They’re getting a great return on the catalogue that I put together. So I’m going to have to pay properly for it. The one thing that everyone has said post-sale is, ‘OK, this now seems cheap.’”
