Hipgnosis acquires Christine McVie's catalogue including Fleetwood Mac hit songs

By Emmanuel Legrand

London-listed music assets management company Hipgnosis Songs Fund has acquired a catalogue of songs from British songwriter and performer Christine McVie, better known for being part of the band Fleetwood Mac. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

  The catalogue acquired contains 115 songs, including 'Don't Stop' and 'You Make Loving Fun'. Hipgnosis owns 100% of the catalogue, which includes worldwide copyright, ownership and financial interest, including Writer’s Share, of all compositions and neighbouring rights.

  “Christine McVie is one of the greatest songwriters of all time having guided Fleetwood Mac to almost 150 million albums sold and making them one of the best-selling bands of all time globally," commented Merck Mercuriadis, Founder and CEO of The Family (Music) and Hipgnosis Songs Fund. "In the last 46 years the band have had three distinct writers and vocalists but Christine’s importance is amply demonstrated by the fact that eight of the 16 songs on the band’s Greatest Hits albums are from Christine."

Songs worthy of merit

  “I am so excited to belong to the Hipgnosis family, and thrilled that you all regard my songs worthy of merit," said McVie. "I’d like to thank you all for your faith in me, and I’ll do all I can to continue this new relationship and help in any way I can! Thank you so much!”

  According to a prospectus from Hipgnosis, the catalogue generated $1.58 million in revenues in 2018, $1.72m in 2019 and $1.70m in 2020, with 48% of the revenues coming from the US and 52% from the rest of the world. 

  In terms of revenue mix by source, the catalogue generated 51% of its revenues from the writer's share, 16% from neighbouring rights, 14% from sync, 10% from streaming and 5% from mechanical.

Reunite McVie with Lindsey Buckingham

  The transaction, combined with its acquisition of the catalogue from former Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham's share, gives Hipgnosis ownership of the song copyrights and writers share for 7 of 11 songs on the ‘Fleetwood Mac’, 8 of 11 songs on ‘Rumours’, 15 of 20 songs on ‘Tusk’, 9 of 12 songs on ‘Mirage’, 9 of 12 songs on ‘Tango In The Night’, 11 of 16 songs on ‘Greatest Hits’, and 12 of 17 songs on ‘The Dance’.  

  Added Mercuriadis: "It’s wonderful for us to welcome Christine to the Hipgnosis Family and particularly wonderful to reunite her once again at Hipgnosis with Lindsey Buckingham. Between Christine and Lindsey we now have 48 of 68 songs on the band’s most successful albums."

 McVie was represented by Business Manager Paul Glass at The Colony Group, Manager Martin Wyatt and Lawyer Mario González.