The Love King makes a power move
Former Elton John and Guns N’ Roses manager, Merck Mercuriadis, has made his next major move in music. The founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, took over the London Stock Exchange a few days ago and celebrated his company buying up 75 percent of The-Dream’s music catalog.
The legendary musician got $23 million for the stake in 302 songs – including the likes of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body,” and his own releases.
Mercuriadis issued a statement saying, “It’s critical for us to set the highest standards with our first acquisition, The-Dream is not only arguably the culturally most important songwriter of his generation; but he has written the marquee songs for the culturally most significant artists of our time including Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Jay Z and Kanye West. It’s an honor for this to not only be our first order of business; but also to welcome Dream to our Advisory Board future.”
The-Dream followed-up with a statement of his own saying, “I’m proud to be part of this beautiful venture. Merck is a music titan who began his career well before I ever imagined having one. His futuristic views captured my attention and instantly made an impact. Merck sees me as I see myself.
I sought out to be my generation’s Babyface and Dr. Dre, he sees the same. In making this decision I said to Merck, ‘I need a Jimmy Iovine in my life,’ not just to nurture my songs but to also help solidify the legacy I seek for myself and my songs even after I’m gone, for my children and beyond. His reply was simply ‘I Got it!, and after that came action like the one you see playing out today in real time.”
Take a look at the celebration below.