Merck Mercuriadis

Merck Mercuriadis (born October 2, 1963) is a Canadian–American music industry executive and entrepreneur.[2] He is the founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, a publicly-traded music IP investment company, and the founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Limited, the investment advisor to the fund, and an artist management and music publishing firm.[3][4] Mercuriadis has managed artists including Nile Rodgers, Beyoncé, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Morrissey, Pet Shop Boys, Macy Gray, Mary J. Blige, Joss Stone, Jane's Addiction, and Catherine Wheel.[5] He served as the director and CEO of Sanctuary Group PLC from 1986 to 2007.

Merck Mercuriadis
Born (1963-10-02) October 2, 1963
Schefferville, Quebec, Canada
OccupationCEO and founder, Hipgnosis songs Ltd and Hipgnosis Songs Fund
Years active1983–present
AwardsBillboard Power 100 [1]
Websitewww.hipgnosissongs.com

Early life

Mercuriadis was born in Schefferville, Quebec, Canada. At the age of 12, he traveled 100 miles from his home town to watch a Kiss concert. According to him, this event was the defining moment that led him to embrace a career in music.[6]

Career

Virgin, Sanctuary Group

At 19, after bombarding his favorite label, Virgin Records, with letters, Mercuriadis was hired as a marketing director at Virgin in Canada. As Virgin entered a period of "immense prosperity," he relocated to the UK, where his position was expanded to include A&R. In addition to working on records by UB40, The Human League and XTC, Mercuriadis was involved with signing Mary Margaret O'Hara.[7] Her debut album, Miss America was released five years after she was signed, and although the album was universally acclaimed, Mercuriadis found the process of representing the label, rather than the artist, difficult. Realizing that his passion was for musicians—not labels—he left Virgin shortly after the record's release.[8]

In October 1986, Mercuriadis joined Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor, the founders, at Sanctuary Music (Overseas) Limited, a management company based in the United Kingdom. Over 20 years, he helped build The Sanctuary Group PLC encompassing Sanctuary Artist Management, Sanctuary Records Group Limited, Rough Trade Records, Helter Skelter Agency and Bravado Merchandise, Twenty First Artists and Trinifold Management. During this time, Mercuriadis moved from London to New York to build the North American base in 2000.[9] In addition, Mercuriadis and Sanctuary Group relaunched Rough Trade Records with founder Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee in 2001.[10] This initiative included several artists such as The Strokes, The Moldy Peaches, The Libertines, Arcade Fire, Antony And The Johnsons, and The Kills. In New York, Mercuriadis served as chief executive officer of Sanctuary Group North America until December 2004. Then, Sanctuary reorganized its management team and named Mercuriadis CEO of the entire group for his substantial contribution in the global revenues overseas.[11][12] During his tenure at Sanctuary Group, Mercuriadis oversaw the management of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé,[13] Nelly, Mick Fleetwood, Tommy Lee, The Who, and Robert Plant. He also managed the recordings of Megadeth,[14] Kiss, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Blue Nile, Simple Minds and Lou Reed. With its list of notable artists, intellectual property rights collection, record labels, integrated services style, Sanctuary Group created a unique position in the music industry.[15][16][17]

Mercuriadis is known for his marketing and creative contributions to several successful albums and singles including Morrisey's Ringleader of the Tormentors, a #1 album, and You Are the Quarry, which hit #2,[18] "Changes" (number 1 single) with Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne,[19] the #2 single "Elton John's Electricity", and several #1 albums with Iron Maiden.[15] He was also part of the Mercury Music Prize with Antony and the Johnsons's I Am a Bird Now.[20] In 2005, Mercuriadis was featured on the cover of Billboard magazine with Elton John.[21] Mercuriadis delivered the keynote speech at the Pollstar CIC awards in 2005.[22][23] In a 2017 article published by Music Business International Mercuriadis wrote: "Our job as managers isn’t to do what we want to do, it’s to do what the artist wants to do. Our job is to facilitate their vision for themselves and to help bring it to fruition." [3]

After Elton John sold Twenty-First Artists to Sanctuary Group for $30.1 million, he turned to Mercuriadis to manage the creative side of his career.[21] Mercuriadis was the manager of several of Elton John's albums including Elton John's Christmas Party and The Captain & the Kid. He was also the executive producer of the Elton John's TV show The Red Piano from 2004 to 2006.[24][25]

Mercuriadis resigned from Sanctuary Music Group on October 31, 2006, after 20 years of service. He founded Hipgnosis Songs Limited after leaving Sanctuary, bringing Guns N' Roses and Morrissey with him.[26][27]

Mercuriadis's collaboration with Guns N' Roses spanned several years during which he contributed to the anticipated album Chinese Democracy.[28][29] Mercuriadis oversaw Morrissey albums including You Are the Quarry, First of the Gang to Die, Ringleader of the Tormentors, and Greatest Hits..[15][18][30] His work with Morrissey resulted in ten top 20 singles.[31]

Hipgnosis Songs Fund

Mercuriadis is the founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, a music IP investment company. In a 2019 interview with the journal Thought Economics, he said: "I have always believed that hit songs and music, art in general, has real value to it. What people don’t really recognise is that when a song becomes a proven song, the earnings pattern to it becomes very predictable and reliable, and is therefore investable. And these songs are as valuable as gold, or oil."[32] The company raised more than US$300 million to fund the acquisition of copyrights in June 2018, and began trading on the London Stock Exchange as SONG in July. Its first acquisition was a majority stake in The-Dream's 302-song catalogue, which included hits such as Justin Bieber's "Baby", Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and Rihanna's "Umbrella." It has since acquired 100% of the Poo Bear, Tricky Stewart, TMS and Giorgio Tuinfort catalogues, as well as a stake in the catalogue of Chic co-founder Bernard Edwards.[33]

In April 2019, Hipgosis Songs raised an additional $185 million. In August, $62.8 million was raised, bringing the fund's total lifetime raise to over $500 million US.[34] The fund owned or partially owned the copyrights on nearly 6000 songs,[35] including "Yeah! by Usher, "Check on It" by Beyoncé, "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey and "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige.[36][37]

Nile Rodgers, The-Dream, Jason Flom, Bill Leibowitz and Ian Montone serve on the Hipgnosis Songs advisory board.[38] It is the only music rights company on the London Stock Exchange.[39]

Mercuriadis is trying to buy and own the rights to thousand of pop songs in order to be able to collect the royalties on these songs. The royalty income for highly popular songs can reach millions of dollars in revenue.[40]

See also

References
  1. "The 2020 Billboard Power List Revealed". Billboard. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  2. Hu, Cherie. "Is Now Really The Best Time To Invest In Music Royalties?". Forbes. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  3. "Merck Mercuriadis' Five golden rules for good artist management". Music Business Worldwide. December 13, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  4. "Former Guns N' Roses Manager Merck Mercuriadis Raises $260 Million for Hipgnosis Songs IPO". Variety. June 29, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  5. "Former Beyoncé Manager Merck Mercuriadis Raises $260 Million In IPO for Hipgnosis Songs". Billboard. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  6. "Special Report: Kiss 30th Anniversary". Billboard. Vol. 115 no. 32. August 9, 2003. p. 32.
  7. "Business interview: Music man turning up the volume on the hit parade". Evening Standard. October 26, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
  8. "Inside Merck Mercuriadis' £1 billion publishing 'revolution'". www.musicweek.com. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  9. "An Interview with Merck Mercuriadis: CEO of the Sanctuary Music Group U.S. & Sanctuary Music Management". Billboard. September 23, 2000. p. S8.
  10. Taylor, Neil (2010). Document and Eyewitness: An Intimate History of Rough Trade. London: Orion Books.
  11. Wallop, Harry (February 16, 2006). "Sanctuary pay rises queried by auditors". The Daily Telegraph.
  12. "Mercuriadis Upped in Sanctuary Revamp". Billboard. December 16, 2004.
  13. "Beyonce finds Sanctuary". The Guardian. October 1, 2003.
  14. Kazmaier, Daina (November 11, 2000). "Sanctuary Group Signs Megadeth to a Five Album Deal". Dish Music.
  15. "Merck Mercuriadis". AllMusic.
  16. Goldsmith, Charles (May 28, 2003). "U.K. Music Firm Sets a New Beat By Moving Beyond Record Sales". The Wall Street Journal. p. B6.
  17. "KISS Announce Formation of KISS RECORDS, Prepare To Release 'Kiss Symphony: Alive IV'". Babblermouth.com. May 9, 2003.
  18. "Morrissey set to sign new record deal". NME. December 16, 2004.
  19. "Kelly Osbourne Signs With Sanctuary". Billboard. September 11, 2003.
  20. "Antony and Johnsons win Mercury". BBC. September 7, 2005.
  21. "At Sanctuary The Heat is on to Improve Performance". Billboard. Vol. 117 no. 37. September 10, 2005. p. 24.
  22. "Merck Mercuriadis hält Keynote auf der CIC 2005". Musik Markt. December 27, 2004.
  23. "Our World Has Changed - Stop Hiding Under The Covers". Pollstar. February 4, 2005.
  24. "Mercuriadis Splits With Elton". Billboard. October 31, 2006.
  25. "Mercuriadis Splits With Elton". The Times of Israel. May 2, 2012.
  26. Wallop, Harry (November 4, 2006). "Sanctuary co-founder walks taking rock icons with him". The Daily Telegraph.
  27. Brandell, Lars (November 11, 2006). "Merck Moves On". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  28. "The Most Expensive Album Never Made". The New York Times. March 6, 2005.
  29. "Is 'Chinese Democracy' Close? Axl Rose Gets Top Management Team". Rolling Stone. March 28, 2008.
  30. Cohen, Jonathan (November 28, 2007). "Billboard Bits: Morrissey, Seal, Noise Pop Festival". Billboard.
  31. "Morrissey to perform in Middle East". Irish Examiner. January 8, 2008.
  32. MBE, Vikas Shah (February 27, 2019). "A Conversation with Nile Rodgers and Merck Mercuriadis". Thought Economics. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  33. Reid, David (July 11, 2018). "Bieber song rights bought by Hipgnosis fund run by former manager of Beyonce". CNBC. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  34. "Hipgnosis Songs Fund raises another $63m, taking acquisition warchest above $500m to date". Music Business Worldwide. August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  35. "Hipgnosis already owns over 5,000 songs – with another $1bn-plus of deals in its sights". Music Business Worldwide. June 24, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  36. Evans, Richard (January 24, 2019). "Questor: this trust makes money from music rights – and its model is 'better than Spotify's'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  37. "Merck Mercuriadis's Hipgnosis Songs Fund raises another $185m". Music Business Worldwide. April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  38. Kemp, Kenny (January 3, 2019). "Hitmaker to the stars has music catalogue snapped up by investment firm". Business Insider. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  39. "London Stock Exchange welcomes Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited to the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market". London Stock Exchange Group. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  40. "The Man Who’s Spending $1 Billion to Own Every Pop Song. Music mogul Merck Mercuriadis raised hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the rights to hits by Taylor Swift, Timbaland, and Bruno Mars. Is he insane?" by Matt Hendrickson, January 8, 2020.
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