HALLELUJAH FOR HIPGNOSIS

Merck Mercuriadis' Hipgnosis has acquired the song catalog of Leonard Cohen, including his standard, "Hallelujah."

The deal includes the rights to all 278 songs and derivatives written by Cohen, who died in 2016. "Hallelujah" has been covered (officially) 300 times and has sold nearly 10m units worldwide.

The Cohen estate was represented by longtime Cohen manager Robert Kory, KR Capital Partners and Jonathan Friedman at Stubbs, Alderton and Markiles LLP.

Said Hipgnosis founder/CEO Mercuriadis: “To now be the custodians and managers of Leonard Cohen’s incomparable songs is a wonderful yet very serious responsibility that we approach with excitement and fully understand the importance of. Leonard wrote words and songs that have changed our lives, none more obvious than "Hallelujah," but there are so many more that we look forward to reminding the world of on a daily basis. Leonard is revered all over the globe because of the magnitude of his work and we are delighted that the Cohen family and Robert Kory have chosen Hipgnosis in this most important decision of who to entrust with Leonard’s legacy.”

127 of the songs covered by the deal stem from Cohen’s Stranger Music catalog, of which Hipgnosis has acquired the songwriter’s share. The arrangement encompasses the period from the inception of his career through 2000 and includes all derivative works, for a total of 211 songs. Hipgnosis has also acquired ownership of 100% of the copyrights, publisher’s share and songwriter’s share of royalties in the Old Ideas catalog, which consists of the 67 songs plus derivative works Cohen wrote from 2001 until his death, at age 82.