Marie Gicquel 07:54, March 09, 2022

Nearly six years after his death, the heirs of Leonard Cohen are selling the musical catalog of the Canadian artist.

An increasingly widespread phenomenon in the recording industry to obtain the rights to the songs and sometimes the prices fly away.

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen has sold his music rights to Sony for $500 million.

Mind-blowing bidding to obtain the rights to songs by David Bowie, Sting, or Bruce Springsteen, who sold his catalog for 500 million dollars.

Monday, we learned of the purchase of Leonard Cohen's catalog, 278 songs sold by the heirs of the Canadian crooner. 

Hallelujah

, Leonard Cohen's cult song is now owned by Hipgnosis.

This British investment company, specializing in intellectual property, will decide on the use of the title (in advertisements, in films, etc.) and will collect the royalties.

Impossible to know how much per song, these financial "details" appear in the contracts.

Confidential contracts, we still do not know the amount paid by Hipgnosis.

The song as a safe haven, good news according to Jean-Philippe Thiellay, president of the National Music Center.

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"After a difficult period, I'm not just talking about the last two years, but rather the last 15 years, in the phono industry, we are now in a phase where investors are thinking that it is worth investing in. money in the songs", he says.

"It's quite new, it's very good news, after these investors are not always in fields close to music," he adds.

A big check

A valuable catalog against a check with several zeros, a trend among American singing stars who want to avoid the colossal tax increase planned by Joe Biden.

So there is a tax interest for these rock stars.

For investors who might be interested in French catalogs, "intellectual property law is very different in Europe, but it is certain that French artists like Joe Dassin, Edith Piaf or Charles Trenet, interest them and moreover, an investor in the Hypgnosis fund has declared that he would love to buy songs from Telephone, Justice or Rita Mitsouko", suggests Jean-Philippe Thiellay.

Hypgnosis has already bought the catalogs of Shakira, Neil Young or Blondie, for more than a billion dollars.