Like you, we’ve been following every announcement of a songwriting catalogue snapped up by Hipgnosis Songs Fund with fascination. Now we can dig through the latest figures from the company, courtesy of this morning’s interim results. Those figures are unsurprisingly big.
Since going public in July 2018, the company has spent £1.18bn (around $1.59bn) on 117 catalogues and nearly 58k songs, and has also raised more than £1.05bn ($1.41bn) from that IPO and subsequent share placements and revolving credit.
The results cover the six-month period between 1 April and 30 September 2020, during which Hipgnosis’s catalogue generated net income of £44.8m – £50.1m of revenues and interest income minus royalty costs of £5.3m. The company’s total expenses were £32.8m, which after taxation led to a net profit of £10.3m for the period.
Other nuggets from the report – which you can read for yourself here – include: sync now accounts for 14% of Hipgnosis revenues, up from 9% six months ago. Digital revenues are still its biggest category though: 38%, ahead of performance royalties (26%) and mechanical royalties (16%).
Pop remains the biggest genre in its porfolio, accounting for 47% of its income ahead of rock (26.7%) and country (12.2%); Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin” is being streamed at least 10m times every week; and Hipgnosis was involved in launching Blondie’s profile on TikTok recently, as part of its management of the band’s catalogue.
Music Ally’s next Learn Live webinar will help you understand what’s required for artists to thrive in new international markets!