131–140 of 245 posts
Here's their investing prospectus with the complete business strategy laid out: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5937f2f1bebafb1297678...
I look at it as an alternate bond like investment that is not corelated with traditional bonds - target yield is 5% I think
Not a bad idea. Finding avenues to rent-seek seems to be the winning strategy, especially with all the cash floating around looking for returns.
It's actually kind of brilliant. Mercuriadis et al are getting some of the rights to well-known intellectual property through the presumably underpaid, behind-the-scenes contributors. His competitors say he's paying too much, but is that just because they've been paying too little? I was biased against the guy when I started the article, but if the status quo ante was other execs paying pennies to songwriters for the…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet when you see a car commercial they use an old song. You’re not accounting for the value of nostalgia and cultural significance.
In many cases, old songs are used precisely because they are cheaper to license.
Ha! Their homepage (www.hipgnosissongs.com) is full of Youtube embeds of songs they own.
This new moment of marketization is interesting to observe from the sidelines. I'm a musician but I've never gotten paid for making music and don't want to be. This way, songwriting and playing music can remain something I do purely for the intrinsic joy of it. And it's not really so long ago that, if you wanted music in your house, you had to play it yourself. I have nothing against recorded music or professional mu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the article he's dedicating marketers to synch rather than mechanicals. I quoted the explanation of all three revenue streams for people like myself who don't automatically know which is which. With Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Mercuriadis bypassed all of them. Songwriters are able to generate revenue from three sources: mechanical royalties (the sale or legal download of a song), performance royalties (paid every time…
For people curious about synch rates, a friend just licensed the music (not performance) to an unknown song for promos for a major streaming production with A listers for $8000 on a two month license. This was with the assistance of an entertainment lawyer. Of course every case is unique.
This doesn't bother me one bit. I think he's making a mistake though. Taylor Swift, Timbaland, and Bruno Mars are all arguably homogenous music made by marketing groups for middle American focus groups. They are endlessly replaceable, rather forgettable, artists and will be lost to history by the 'next big thing' that sounds just like it or very similar in a year or two. It has more in common with pop fashion than or…
Not a bad idea. Finding avenues to rent-seek seems to be the winning strategy, especially with all the cash floating around looking for returns.
I think pop songs are a depreciating asset since new ones can be pumped out rather quickly like out of a factory.