HIPGNOSIS HIRES COCKLE AND THOMSON

Hipgnosis Songs Fund has made two huge hires—former Virgin EMI President Ted Cockle and former Swedish House Mafia manager Amy Thomson. They join in the roles of President and Chief Catalog Officer, respectively.

The duo will be applying their proven form, structure and process to continue to grow and care for songs and their legacy within the growing Hipgnosis Songs catalog globally.

“It’s a testament to the iconic song catalogue that we have assembled over the last two plus years, and our songwriters, that we have been able to attract executives with the extraordinary talent, pedigree and success of Ted and Amy,” Hipgnosis Songs founder Merck Mercuriadis said.

“I’ve been very vocal about disrupting the world of traditional publishing with ‘Song Management.’ In Song Management we actively manage our songs with great responsibility to higher levels of success. I don’t believe there’s a traditional publisher that has brought together this level of expertise to manage its songs.

“Our results have been strong and with Ted and Amy now on board I look forward to everything their passion and know how will help us to achieve.”

Cockle spent seven years leading Virgin EMI before departing in June. Under his guidance, the label was crowned the U.K.’s #1 imprint for the previous seven years since the company was acquired by Universal Music Group. Prior to that, Cockle spent 10 years at Sony Music before joining UMG as co-President of Island Records.

Thomson arrives following on from her successes in management and marketing where she oversaw the careers of Swedish House Mafia, DJ Snake, Seal and others. Her marketing campaigns have included Yeezus with Kanye West and his team.

She closed her management business in December 2019 to focus on catalog management and designed an online system to help artists find and track their catalog. The platform will launch, including Hipgnosis’ catalog, in 2021.