Hipgnosis Songs Acquires L.A. Reid’s Song Catalog, With Hits by Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown
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Hipgnosis Songs and its Investment adviser, The Family (Music) Limited, announced that Grammy Award-winning songwriter, producer and music executive L.A. Reid has been appointed to its advisory board, and the company has also acquired 100% of his publishing interests and writers share of income in his 162-song catalog.
Reid’s songwriting and production successes include Boyz II Men’s Grammy-winning “End of the Road” and Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Roni” and “Rock Wit’Cha,” as well as Whitney Houston’s smash “I’m Your Baby Tonight” and “Queen of the Night,” from “The Bodyguard,” which is the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. He has also scored hits with the Whispers, Sheena Easton, Karyn White, TLC and Toni Braxton.
As an executive, Reid co-founded LaFace Records with Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds in 1988. The label spawned the careers of Usher, TLC, OutKast, Toni Braxton, and Pink, among others. In 2000, the label merged with Arista Records, and Reid became CEO and President. Four years later, he took the helm of Island Def Jam Music Group, and in 2011 became chairman and CEO of Epic Records. He left the label in 2017 and formed Hitco Entertainment.
Hipgnosis Songs recently released its annual report, which showed its revenues soaring in its first full year of business, climbing to $81 million in the 12 month period ended in March 2020 from around $8.9 million in the preceding period. The firm, which has been on an unprecedented acquisition binge of hit songwriter and producer catalogs — been buying up catalogs by hitmakers ranging from Timbaland and Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart to Jack Antonoff and Jeff Bhasker — began trading on the London Stock Exchange in July of 2018. Between March 2019 and March 2020, the company spent nearly $700 million to acquire 42 catalogs.
Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited and The Family (Music) Limited said, “L.A. Reid has become so successful as a music executive and developer of some of the most important artists in music over the last 30 years that people often forget that he is an incomparable songwriter and the work he and Babyface did together defines R&B as we know it today. It’s a great pleasure to welcome L.A. Reid and his incredible set of songs to the Hipgnosis family.”
L.A. Reid said, “I can’t imagine a better home for my lifetime of music and songs than Hipgnosis. Merck and his dream team truly value artists and their creative vision, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with them for this exciting new chapter.”
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