Hipgnosis Song Management has made its third acquisition in three weeks, buying a song catalog from Tobias Jesso Jr., who on Sunday (February 6) was named as the first-ever Grammy Songwriter of the Year.
Jesso’s credits include Adele’s hit When We Were Young which has been streamed on Spotify over a billion times and Boyfriends, a track on Harry’s House which won this year’s Grammy for Album of the Year.
News of the deal follows Hipgnosis’ acquisition last week of a song catalog from TMS, the British songwriting and record production trio of Tom ‘Froe’ Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Pete ‘Merf’ Kelleher for an undisclosed fee.
It also comes two weeks after buying a song catalog and associated income streams from Justin Bieber for around $200 million.
Like the TMS and Bieber deals, the Tobias Jesso Jr. catalog has been acquired on behalf of Hipgnosis Songs Capital (not to be confused with the UK-listed public fund, Hipgnosis Songs Fund), which is fuelled by funds managed by Blackstone.
Hipgnosis says it has acquired 100% of Tobias Jesso Jr.s’ interest in his publishing copyrights (including the writer’s share of performance) for around 40 songs released between 2015 and 2020.
MBW understands that the Jesso Jr. deal means that Hipgnosis Song Management has now spent around USD $700 million from the Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital fund on music rights and interests to date.
The catalog comprises of Tobias Jesso Jr.’s solo works and his work for other artists including Adele, Niall Horan, P!nk, Sia, Paloma Faith, Ruel, Shawn Mendez, Charlie Pugh, Meghan Trainor and Florence + The Machine.
The singer-songwriter’s own debut album Goon was released in 2015 and led to his inclusion in RollingStone magazine’s list of the 20 Biggest Breakouts of 2015.
Shortly after Goon, he shifted to focus his career as a songwriter collaborator.
When We Were Young, a hit single from Adele’s multi-platinum selling album 25 reached the Top 10 in 11 countries, including the UK and Canada, and was three times platinum in the UK. Tobias also worked with Sia and Adele on the song Alive, which was recorded by Sia and featured on her album This Is Acting.
The song reached the Top 40 in over 15 countries, including UK, Spain and France.
“I’m delighted to welcome Tobias and his manager Ben Persky to the Hipgnosis family.”
In 2017, he co-wrote Niall Horan’s Slow Hands which topped the US charts. Other writing credits include P!nk’s You Get My Love in 2017 and two Florence + The Machine songs (Hunger and End of The Love) from her 2018 album High As Hope.
He also contributed to Harry Styles’ 2022 album Harry’s House.
Tobias Jesso Jr. was the recipient of SOCAN’s Breakout Award in 2016 and has been nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the 2015 JUNO Awards, nominated for the Ivors and was shortlisted for the Polaris prize.
Tobias Jesso Jr is represented by longtime manager Ben Persky at Mixed Management and lawyer Nicky Stein at Clintons.
Merck Mercuriadis, Chief Executive and Founder of Hipgnosis Song Management, said: “Tobias is amongst the most important songwriters in contemporary music today as demonstrated by his winning the 2023 Grammy Award for Songwriter Of The Year, in its inaugural year.
“I fell in love with his songs right from the get go with Goon eight years ago and he never fails to deliver. I’m delighted to welcome Tobias and his manager Ben Persky to the Hipgnosis family.”Music Business Worldwide
