The past two decades have been a boon for composers, AV music publishers and production music library owners as content had a certain freedom of movement between various networks and platforms. In a market that saw AV rights-owners benefit from multiple revenue streams, that meant fresh financial opportunities with every new licensing agreement.However, recent years have seen a phenomenon that threatens to tighten the tap for AV rights-holders down to a trickle: content lockdown. That is: relegating the movement of...
Hipgnosis Song Management
Merck
Mercuriadis
Founder / CEO
Mercuriadis continued the shopping spree that has made Hipgnosis the talk of the industry for the last three years, starting off with the January announcements of deals for the catalogs of Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. Later in the year, Buckingham’s former bandmate Christine McVie added her works to the treasure chest, as did Latin star Shakira, veteran songwriter Carole Bayer Sager and producer Andy Wallace. With Patrick Joest leaving his post as global head of sync at BMG to sign on with the team led by Amy Thomson and Ted Cockle, Hipgnosis reported that sync placements accounted for 15% of the company’s revenue, up from 9% in the prior fiscal year. To keep the train in motion, Hipgnosis offered shares in June to accomplish a $210 million war chest.