Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHipgnosis Songs, founded by Merck Mercuriadis and launched on the London Stock Exchange in 2018, is one of the most disruptive upstarts in recent music industry history, spending more than $2 billion acquiring catalogs of hitmakers ranging from the Chainsmokers to half of Neil Young’s work, with a foundation in lesser-known but high-earning songwriters and producers such as Kanye West/Harry Styles collaborator Jeff Bhasker and Eurythmics cofounder Dave Stewart.Mercuriadis, former manager of Guns N’ Roses and Morrissey, among others, has positioned himself as a fierce advocate for songwriters who frequently lambasts the major publishers for a business model that he says is exploitative and antiquated.
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