Merck Mercuriadis resigns as chairman of Hipgnosis Song Management

Jill Furmanovsky

Hipgnosis Song Management announced Tuesday that Merck Mercuriadis, chairman of the music rights company that once owned the rights to the catalogs of Neil Young and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is stepping down.

His departure from the company will be effective upon completion of the proposed acquisition of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited by Lyra Bidco Limited, a company owned by funds managed by Blackstone. Blackstone already owns two other elements of Hipgnosis – the investment fund Hipgnosis Songs Capital and the advisor Hipgnosis Song Management.

Mercuriadis is stepping down after months of turmoil at Hipgnosis, which launched a strategic review last year following a shareholder revolt against a planned sell-off of its catalogue and other business plans.

Hipgnosis, founded in 2018, helped drive the price of music catalogs to new heights by paying big money to acquire catalogs from a large number of top producers and songwriters, with Mercuriadis often equating music catalogs to oil or gold. In fact, Mercuriadis spent over $3 billion on acquisitions before the company lost more than half its value due to excessive spending and problematic management.

Hipgnosis reportedly paid $100 million for half of Neil Young’s song catalog; in separate deals, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen reportedly received four to six times that amount – but the company overextended itself when investors questioned Hipgnosis’ ability to exploit the acquired catalogs.

In a statement released Tuesday morning, Mercuriadis said: “Six years after founding HSM, I have decided that now is the right time for me to step down from my role as chairman. This is a good opportunity for me to make a strategic shift in focus and spend more time advocating for the interests of songwriters to ensure they are fairly compensated for their work.”

He continued: “As Hipgnosis Songs Fund enters the next phase of its development, now is the right time to hand over the reins to a trusted and extremely capable team. I look forward to the future of the company and its continued success with the support of Blackstone.”