Merck Mercuriadis is combining eight management companies for his new venture, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships.
Mercuriadis, known for popularizing the concept of music as an asset class with his previous suite of Hipgnosis catalog investment companies, detailed plans for his next venture during a keynote conversation at the Music Tectonics conference in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday (Oct. 28).
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A former artist manager himself for acts like Beyoncé, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John, Mercuriadis previously announced that Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships would be aimed at sharing asset ownership between managers and musicians. During Wednesday’s keynote, moderated by Music Tectonics director Dmitri Vietze, Mercuriadis revealed for the first time that he is rolling up eight “very significant management companies to create a juggernaut management company.”
Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships has not named its target acquisition companies. The first of these transactions is set to be announced in the first quarter of 2027.
Mercuriadis detailed how Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships’ revenue-share model will work: Artists and managers will co-own all assets created during the life of the relationship, with the artist as majority shareholder and the manager as minority owner. The artist is free to leave, but “those assets that are created in the partnership always stay in the partnership,” Mercuriadis said.
“Day one when we’re writing checks for the artists, the majority of the money’s coming to the company, but money’s always flowing through to the artist, at least 20 or 30%, regardless of recoupment,” said Mercuriadis. “They recoup very, very quickly because they’re now recouping from all income streams. And then when they recoup and the company hits its return-on-investment targets, it’ll swing so they’re getting 80% of the money and the company’s getting 20% of the money.”
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According to Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships is about a “value shift” — that is, moving money away from record companies and toward artists and managers. But he’ll still rely on the majors for publishing administration and label services: “We will lease the infrastructure of Universal, Warner and Sony, but Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships will be the ones to decide how the money is spent,” he said.
Mercuriadis built three companies under the Hipgnosis name starting in 2017, acquiring and managing a valuable catalog that included songs by Shakira, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac and Diana Ross. He ultimately sold his stake to private equity backer Blackstone during a turbulent period in 2024. The consolidated companies, renamed Recognition Music, were acquired by Sony this past May.
Asked during Wednesday’s keynote what he thinks about those in the music industry who say he overpaid for the Hipgnosis catalog, Mercuriadis replied that he succeeded in his goal: elevating the value of songs.
“When you then sell your catalog for $1.2 billion more than what you paid for it, that argument tends to go out the window,” added Mercuriadis. “To anyone who thought that I overpaid, god bless you. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
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