The rights to 1,180 songs by Neil Young (75) have been bought by Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a fund that coordinates the income flow of various well-known artists. The fund paid 150 million dollars (more than 120 million euros) for the rights, the BBC reports on Wednesday.
The music fund receives the royalties on these songs, keeps a percentage of this and then pays the rest to the artist himself. In addition to Young, the fund also does this for artists such as Mark Ronson, Chic and Blondie.
Merck Mercuriadis, previously manager of Beyoncé and Elton John, among others, is pleased with the collaboration with the singer. “This agreement will change the company forever. I know every note, word and silence from his album Harvest. Since then, it’s been like Neil is a friend of mine.”
Since the corona pandemic, a lot of attention has been paid to the sale of music rights. It is seen as a good and stable investment, because music will always be played despite all circumstances.
Last month it was announced that Universal Music has bought Bob Dylan’s entire oeuvre for about $ 300 million.
With the sale, Dylan gives up the income that his music generates. These amounts are now in the hands of Universal Music. Rights to any future music are not included in the deal.
Young has released more than 40 albums to date. His new album Noise & Flowers, a recording of his 2019 European tour, will be released later this year.
