Rod Stewart said he had turned down music streaming group Hipgnosis Song Fund’s attempts to add the ageing rocker’s back catalogue to its collection.
After two years of talks between Stewart and the FTSE 250 company broke down, the former Faces and Jeff Beck Group frontman described the FTSE 250-listed trust as the wrong organisation to own his recordings.
“This catalogue represents my life’s work. And it became abundantly clear after much time and due diligence that this was not the right company to manage my song catalogue, career, or legacy.”
Best known for huge hits such as Maggie May, Sailing, Do Ya Think I’m Sexy and Stay With Me (with the Faces), his catalogue includes Ten No. 1 albums and 26 Top 10 singles in the UK.
As music streaming has boomed, Hipgnosis has shot to prominence after acquiring the rights to the catalogues of a string of global superstars such as Justin Bieber and Neil Young.
Deals involve an upfront payment to the artist with the royalties subsequently going to the trust.
Investors, meanwhile, have been attracted by the yields being offered on the most-streamed artists at a time of rock-bottom interest rates
According to the Telegraph, Stewart was unhappy about a reduction in the price being offered the paper also quoted a source close to Hipgnosis stating that the talks were ongoing and a deal could go ahead.
Prices for the catalogues of top artists soared during the pandemic as streaming use rocketed with Bruce Springsteen’s portfolio bought for an estimated US$500mln in 2021.
Universal Music, meanwhile, is said to favourite to close a deal with Queen that would value its catalogue at more than US$1bn.
Shares in Hipgnosis today were up 0.7% at 82.3p.