Hipgnosis Song Management has acquired the song catalog of Leonard Cohen, poet, writer, performer and one of the most influential songwriters of the last 50 years. The Canadian-born artist, who died in 2016 at age 82, is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hipgnosis acquired the rights to all 278 songs and their derivatives written by Leonard Cohen, including “Hallelujah”, which has been covered over 300 times. Within these rights, 127 songs are taken from the catalog of Cohen’s Stranger Music, for which Hipgnosis holds royalties. It covers the period from the beginning of his career to 2000 and includes all derivative works, for a total of 211 songs. The company also acquired 100% of the copyright, publisher’s share, and songwriter’s royalty share in the Old Ideas catalog, which consists of all 67 songs plus derivative works written by Cohen from 2001 until his death in 2016.
Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition was made on behalf of Hipgnosis Songs Capital ICAV, a partnership between Hipgnosis Song Management and Blackstone LLP.
Cohen Estate was represented by longtime manager Leonard Cohen, Robert Corey, KR Capital Partners and Jonathan Friedman of Stubbs, Alderton and Markiles LLP.
Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934 and released his first studio album The Songs of Leonard Cohen in 1967 and his 15th and final album Thanks for the Dance posthumously in 2019. He began his career as a poet and writer. but moved to New York in the mid-1960s to try his luck as a singer-songwriter. His work first gained attention when Judy Collins began covering his classic “Suzanne”, which became a hit in 1967. , signed him to Columbia Records in 1967. In the following decades, he released albums at a slow and steady pace, including such classics as “So Long, Marianne”, “Bird on the Wire”, “Hey, That’s No Way to Say”. Goodbye”, “The famous blue cape”, “First we take Manhattan” and many others.
However, he did not release “Hallelujah”, his most famous song, until 1984. The song, like many of his compositions, did not become a hit until it was covered by others, most notably by Jeff Buckley and later by John Cale. , whose version was an unusual addition to the animated feature film Shrek. Cohen took breaks from performances from time to time, but played many hours of concerts until 2013 and released two albums in the last years of his life.
Merck Mercuriadis, Founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management, said: “Now being the custodians and managers of the incomparable songs of Leonard Cohen is a wonderful but very serious responsibility that we approach with excitement and fully understand its importance. Leonard has written words and songs that have changed our lives, the most obvious being Hallelujah, but there is so much more we look forward to reminding the world of every day. He is revered around the world for the scope of his work, and we are delighted that the Coen family and Robert Corey have chosen Hipgnosis in this crucial decision of whom to entrust Leonard’s legacy with.”
Corey said: “Merck Mercouriadis is unique in the world of music publishing as he has worked as an artist manager. We know he cares about artists, and as a Quebecer, he especially appreciates Leonard’s unique status in popular music. The catalog is in safe hands. The Hipgnosis team was a pleasure to work with throughout the deal.”