MERCK'S LATEST DEAL: BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT

Merck Mercuriadis' Hipgnosis and The Family (Music) Limited have inked another big catalog deal, and their first of 2020, this time for works by Blink-182 co-founder Tom DeLonge. The pact for 100% of DeLonge's copyrights covers 157 songs, including his work with Angels and Airwaves. Blink is credited with sales of 50m albums worldwide and hundreds of millions of streams, including 500m streams for "I Miss You" and 390m for "All the Small Things."

"The influence of Blink-182 on today’s artists is massive," Merck declared. "If you’re under 27 years old and making music they are a seminal band. They had angst, they had energy, they had humor—but most importantly they had incredible songs and Tom is at the core of that. It’s an honor to welcome him into the Hipgnosis Family."

"It is an honor to have been playing music for so many years and to be in a position to partner with the great team at Hipgnosis to support my work," reads a quote from DeLonge. "This is now a perfect opportunity for me to not only celebrate my past, but to also give me the foundation to create more music for many decades to come." He then rode his diamond-encrusted skateboard around a platinum half-pipe.