Leonard Cohen’s estate has sold its catalog of songs to the firm Hipgnosis Song Management.
Posted at 10:59
The transaction, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, was announced on Saturday by the company led by a native of Schefferville, Quebec, Merck Mercuriadis.
Hipgnosis has acquired the rights to all 278 songs and other derivative works written by the Montreal singer-songwriter, including his hits Susanna, So Long Marianne and Hallejulah.
She says she owns Cohen’s royalties for his songs written from the start of his career to 2000. She also got the singer’s royalties and the publisher’s royalties for works composed from 2001 until his death in 2016.
“Being guardians and makers of Leonard Cohen’s incomparable songs is a wonderful, yet very dangerous responsibility that we embrace with enthusiasm and fully understand its importance,” Mercuriadis said, according to the Softicket website.
Hipgnosis already owns the catalogs of two former members of Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie and Lindsay Buckingam, Neil Young and the band Red Hot Chili Peppers.