Neil Young has sold a 50% stake in his composition catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the company founded by former artist director Merck Mercuriadis, according to The Associated Press. The sale includes copyright and interest on approximately 1,180 songs written or co-written by Young over his decade-long career. The exact financial conditions were not disclosed.
Young is the last artist to reach an agreement with Hipgnosis, which also recently acquired the publishing rights of Lindsey Buckingham and the production rights of Jimmy Iovine. Mercuriadis and its company have been on the verge of acquiring over the past year; The much-publicized sale of his songwriting catalog to Bob Dylan’s UMPG came after he turned down a $ 400 million offer from Hipgnosis.