Hipgnosis Songs announced Monday that the firm has acquired a 50 percent stake in the copyright and writers share in the catalog of RZA, perBillboard. The catalog is comprised of 814 songs, and includes nearly every track from the Wu-Tang Clan, which were primarily produced by RZA.
Varietyreports Hipgnosis has acquired 42 catalogs from artists, such as Jack Antonoff and Timbaland, from March 2019 to March 2020, spending nearly $700 million. These purchases have greatly aided the company’s bottom line, as evident from their annual report, where their revenue soared to $81 million. In comparison, Hipgnosis reported around $8.9 million over the previous period.
Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis credited the strong financial showing in their first full year of business on aligning themselves with known and established commodities. "All of our songs have a proven track record and we do not speculate on new songs regardless of the past performance of the songwriter, producer or artist," Mercuriadis said. "These proven hit Songs produce reliable, predictable and uncorrelated cash flows which are highly investible."
"I wear various hats in my artistic expressions but the one that has been so deeply reflective of my life's journey is my songwriting," RZA said in a statement. "I'm honored to partner up with Merck and the Hipgnosis team to usher my songs into an exciting future."
Mercuriadis also spoke highly of the Wu-Tang Clan in his own statement, calling them the "most authentic band and brand in hip-hop," while saying that RZA is "globally recognized as a true renaissance man of hip-hop and most would argue that he is the G.O.A.T."
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