Now Neil Young has sold a stake in some of his song catalog. Like Bob Dylan, there's no mention of how much $ was involved, though...
Lindsey Buckingham Sells His Publishing Rights (ultimateclassicrock.com)
Lindsey Buckingham has become the latest classic rocker to offload his publishing rights to Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
According to Music Business Worldwide, Merck Mercuriadis' London-based company bought 100 percent of Buckingham's rights to 161 songs he has written for Fleetwood Mac and his solo career, as well as 50 percent of unreleased material. Hipgnosis had previously owned 25 percent through their acquisition of Kobalt in September.
The price was not disclosed.
“Prior to arriving at an agreement with Hipgnosis, I had wonderful long conversations with Merck Mercuriadis," Buckingham said. "I was pleased to find a kindred spirit, someone who’s a big fan of my work in Fleetwood Mac and an even bigger fan of my solo efforts. I look forward to working with Merck and the whole Hipgnosis team going into the future and am confident that my body of work will be curated with great heart and insight.”
Mercuriadis added: “Lindsey Buckingham is one of the greatest guitarists, songwriters and producers of all time yet is still so underrated. His work with Fleetwood Mac has brought the world unparalleled joy over the last 45 years, and he belongs in any discussion featuring Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney. It’s wonderful to welcome him and his iconic songs, both as a solo artist and with Fleetwood Mac, to the Hipgnosis family”.
Buckingham's former Fleetwood Mac bandmate Stevie Nicks recently sold an 80 percent stake in her catalog to Primary Wave for an estimated $100 million. It's part of a growing trend of musicians taking lump-sum payments in exchange for their publishing rights, believed to be the most lucrative asset in the music industry. Mercuriadis has been the biggest player in the game, with Hipgnosis' portfolio containing more than 60,000 songs, including those by Journey, Nikki Sixx and Chrissie Hynde.
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Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Good on all these old guys who are now selling off their song catalogues! The money is theirs - rightfully so.
But unlike Dylan - who never ever claimed to be against commercialism, Neil is partially famous for his stands against selling out. In his song/video, "This Note's For You" he took pointed stands against artists who sold their songs or appeared in commercials. Note the "nod" to Eric Clapton (I forget the exact beer ad) in the opening of the video:
His songs to sell to anybody he wants. Go for the (Heart of) Gold, Neil! 😉
^^^ Looks like you'll have to cut and paste the address to see the video. Wonder what that's all about?
I posted a video of Jack Pearson paying some wild and incredible SLIDE guitar yesterday and got the same thing.
Later I discovered you click on YouTube where its underlined and it comes right up for you to watch. But you are no longer on this site but actually on YouTube.
Initially I too thought you had to paste together the addy for the video but all you have to do is click on where it says YouTube underlined and the video comes right up for play. But again you have left this site.
.
The press I’m reading states Neil sold 50% of his songs for an estimated $150 million...Good for Neil.
Note the "nod" to Eric Clapton (I forget the exact beer ad) in the opening of the video:
It was Michelob commercial in 1988 when EC recorded a re-arranged version of After Midnight:
The irony was EC was coming out of alcoholism rehab either shortly before or after he recorded a Michelob commercial. EC later said he regretted doing it for that reason.
I say 'good on them' for these artists to monetize their work. I see the hypocrisy of the 1980s Neil Young saying that, but times have changed. Artists were seen as rich when major labels were funding them, really through the 1990s. Now touring is where the money is made, and the pandemic has interrupted their cash flows. The artists are having to leverage assets to cover lost touring revenues. They are 'lucky' they have such valuable song catalogs. A lot of musicians don't and are going through hard times.
