Hipgnosis bags rights to music catalogue of Ed Sheeran songwriter
Music royalties investment firm Hipgnosis has acquired the music catalogue of Benny Blanco, the songwriter and producer behind top artists including Ed Sheeran.
Read more: Hipgnosis snaps up rights to music catalogue of Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart
Hipgnosis has secured 100 per cent copyright ownership over Blanco’s portfolio of songs, which includes 29 number ones and has racked up more than 10bn streams.
In addition to Sheeran’s hit single Castle on the Hill, Blanco has co-written records for artists such as Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Katy Perry and The Weeknd.
Hipgnosis, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last year, enables shareholders to invest in song portfolios and make money from royalties and related income.
“In a week when Benny is at number one with Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello, it’s fortuitous to have closed our deal and welcome him to the Hipgnosis family,” said Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis.
“Benny’s been having number one songs for the last 12 years now, 10 of them since 2015 alone. That longevity, to be able to write number one songs consistently for more than a decade and to have made incomparable contributions to establishing the most important artists of our time, is an almost impossible feat.”
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Earlier this year the Guernsey-registered company snapped up the rights to more than 1,000 songs written by Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart.
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