Blondie, Barry Manilow sell their catalogs to Hipgnosis

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Fkrol, Aug 5, 2020.

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  1. Fkrol

    Fkrol Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago
    Link to Rolling Stone article:
    Blondie Co-Founders and Barry Manilow Sell Their Catalogs to Hipgnosis

    Can anyone explain to me why artists are deciding to do this? Do they figure they are going to make more money at one time from this buyout than they would from income streaming in for the rest of their lives?

    As a huge Blondie fan, I worry about what this might imply for the future of the band. Debbie is 75, Chris Stein has had a health problem that prevented him from participating in a lot of the touring that happened before Covid, and with the pandemic who knows if they'd be able to do any more touring.
     
  2. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    Selling the rights passes the risk and uncertainty of future revenue streams from the artists onto the investors. Some artists may prefer getting a more certain amount of money today, instead of holding the risk of their catalogue becoming less popular later or changes in the music industry that could hurt their future revenue streams (like when CDs got replace by mp3s, then replaced by streaming).

    I think artists are also looking at these deals now because with the pandemic, artists cannot make money from concerts and don't know how long it will be before they can tour again (keep in mind these artists are aging and won't be able to tour forever). So they are looking for alternate ways to make money while touring is not possible.

    For aging artists, there could also be estate planning considerations. There could be tax advantages for estate planning in how these deals are structured, or the artist may prefer passing on to their heirs a simpler asset (like cash) than burdening them with having to make group decisions about how to manage their catalogue.

    For music fans, the advantage may be that we will see more reissues and releases, as the investors try to monetize these catalogues. That happened when David Bowie sold "Bowie Bonds" in the 1990s that grouped together his catalogue for investors, an innovative deal at the time it was done (although forum members may debate whether they were happy with the endless reissues and remasters that came out after that).
     
  3. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    I had no idea Hipgnosis was still a thing. Wonder how they even made it into the 21st Century, if we're still talking about the company who designed so many LP covers in the 1970's...? Perhaps not the same company...?
     
    TonyCzar, frightwigwam and bob60 like this.
  4. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Wikipedia via Google has your answer. And in fewer keystrokes than this post.
     
  5. Cachiva

    Cachiva Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, Texas
    A commeter over there said,

    "It seems Hipgnosis Songs Fund is acquiring the publishing as well , since his
    stated goal is to acquire as much music publishing as he can. The focus is on
    music he thinks he can make even more money on by licensing it for movies,
    commercials, video games and more. But he is paying very well for it. Twice
    what other music publishing firms offer. It's more money than many of these
    artists would make on it in the rest of their lifetimes, which is why so many are
    willing to sell. And they won't have to try to make all those deals themselves,
    just take a lump sum. The amounts he's paying have the other Publishing firms
    in an uproar."


    [​IMG]
     
    TonyCzar and bob60 like this.
  6. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Considering it's a legitimate question, I think it deserves clarification in this thread.
     
    frightwigwam, tin ears and DaveinMA like this.
  7. DaveinMA

    DaveinMA Some guy

    There is a wikipedia page for each entity, neither of which mentions the other.
     
  8. aphexj

    aphexj Sound mind & body

    That's not something that Bowie Bonds did, really; Chris O'Riley explains: The “Bowie Bonds”
     
    Erick Haight and Beamish13 like this.
  9. DaveinMA

    DaveinMA Some guy

    I suspect that the conglomerate simply cribbed the name of the original team of graphical artists.
     
  10. Fkrol

    Fkrol Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago
    Turnaround and Cachiva, that does help to make some more sense of it. Thanks.
     
  11. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    Does this mean that they'll be setting Debbie Harry on fire?
     
  12. violarules

    violarules Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Which would lead you to conclude.....
     
  13. DaveinMA

    DaveinMA Some guy

  14. Ignatius

    Ignatius Forum Resident

    It means we're getting a new Pink Floyd album.
     
  15. colinu

    colinu I'm not lazy, I'm energy saving!

    I was reflecting on this - it gives artists without heirs a potential opportunity to disperse some of the earnings from after they pass to charities they wish to support now.
     
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