The-Dream has made a major financial move by selling majority of his catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, a company recently launched by former Elton John and Guns N’ Roses manager Merck Mercuriadis.
After successfully floating on London’s Stock exchange on Wednesday, The-Dream struck a deal to sell 75% stake in his catalog for $23 million, reports MBW. Terius Nash aka The-Dream is one of the most successful songwriters of this generation, having written or co-written hits such as Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’, Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’, Mariah Carey’s ‘Touch My Body’, and of course some of his own hits.
The deal will be funded through HSFL’s own cash resources while the remaining 25% interest in the catalog will be retained by The-Dream. The catalog consists of 302 songs in total which includes 25 Billboard top 10 songs and four Grammy Award-winning songs.
“It’s critical for us to set the highest standards with our first acquisition,” Mercuriadis said. “The-Dream is not only arguably the culturally most important songwriter of his generation but he has written the marquee songs for the culturally most significant artists of our time including Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Jay Z and Kanye West. It’s an honor for this to not only be our first order of business but also to welcome Dream to our Advisory Board future.”
The-Dream said, “I’m proud to be part of this beautiful venture. Merck is a music titan who began his career well before I ever imagined having one. His futuristic views captured my attention and instantly made an impact. Merck sees me as I see myself. I sought out to be my generation’s Babyface and Dr. Dre, he sees the same. In making this decision I said to Merck, ‘I need a Jimmy Iovine in my life,’ not just to nurture my songs but to also help solidify the legacy I seek for myself and my songs even after I’m gone, for my children and beyond. His reply was simply ‘I Got it!, and after [that] came action like the one you see playing out today in real time.”