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Today we turn to music as an investment theme, and our guest has worked with the greats, from Elton John to Beyonce, and has been in the front row of the music business for nearly 40 years. He is CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd, a FTSE 250 company and the first UK investment company offering a pure play exposure to songs and music IP.

Music and back catalogues have seen growing investor interest and a number of vehicles have, and are being developed to offer investors access to long duration income streams, often via listed entities.

Merck talks about growing up in Canada, making it to his first Kiss concert, working for Simon Draper and Richard Branson at Virgin records, before spending nearly 2 decades at Sanctuary music, where his client list featured some of the great musicians of all time.

He talks about the changing nature of the music business, from the Bowie Bonds to the astonishing development that today over 90 % of US households have a music streaming subscription. From a discretionary purchase to a utility within a decade!

Merck explains the current economics of the revenue splits, and why he believes that the artists have often not received a fair deal. He explains how a $12 monthly music subscription is split. He then details how Hipgnosis has acquired 57,000 songs and spent £1.2bn since listing on the London Stock Exchange three years ago, and why buying the highest quality catalogues of proven songs generates current and new revenue opportunities through song management.

He talks about the rights once the catalogues are owned that endure 70 years after the artist’s death and whose revenues can accrue to investors. Equally he explains how owning the song allows you to take as an example, Blondie’s Heart of Glass and not just license it to TikTok, but reinvent it with current artists like Miley Cyrus. Merck talks about song selection, helping insert songs into movies and commercials, maximising song potential and how technology is changing the music business. 

He explains why London was chosen for the listing, reflects on some of the greats with whom he has worked and concludes that the new world of music makes it compelling for investing and for job prospects. And the show closes with the great line….“If you got the money honey, I got the time, and when you run out of money honey I run out of time”.

Originally released in April 2021, we're pleased to be featuring Merck's episode again in light of today's inflationary environment, which has resulted in many investors looking to the world of alternative assets to mitigate their risks and capitalise on fast-growing markets. In October 2021, the firm enjoyed a $1 billion cash injection from Blackstone, who also took a stake in the business.