Kirkland & Ellis is advising funds managed by Blackstone on a new partnership with Hipgnosis Song Management Ltd (“HSM”), which will initially deliver c.$1 billion to acquire music rights and manage catalogues. As part of the partnership, Blackstone will take an ownership stake in HSM and will support the expansion of its infrastructure and business functions, including the development of new song management expertise, data science capabilities and technology solutions. This should allow HSM to further enhance the value of the rights it purchases, working in close collaboration with songwriters, artists and producers.
The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Francesca Harris, David Higgins and Aprajita Dhundia and associates Jack Donelan and Christopher Weale; technology & IP transactions partners Seth Traxler, Rory Wellever and Shellie Freedman and associate Donovan Suh; antitrust partner Annie Herdman; ESG partner Ruth Knox and associate Donna Ni and tax partners Tim Lowe and James Seddon.
