Record producer Bob Rock sold his share of the rights to a 43-song catalog, including the heavy metal band Metallica’s “Black Album” and Michael Bublé’s “Call Me Irresponsible,” to the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, amid the explosion of streaming the music.
“I put my heart and soul into these recordings,” Rock said in a statement, The Guardian reports. ”I know how much Merck loves music, so it was an easy deal to put together.”
The COVID-19 pandemic is leading a growing roster of music industry professionals to monetarize their old jobs by selling valuable songs and albums, at a time when the global health crisis has plunged earnings from live concerts.
Mercuriadis: “The breadth of Bob Rock’s enormous successes are almost impossible to match by any creator in the history of music. From Metallica’s most famous Black Album to Buble’s Christmas, he has produced some of the biggest albums of all time that continue to be evergreen, year in and year out.”
London-based investment firm Hipgnosis announced on Thursday a discounted placement offer of its common shares alongside the deal, which is at least the company’s fifth this month after those it reached with Shakira and Neil Young.
Rock co-produced Metallica’s 1991 album, popularly known as “The Black Album,” which includes hits such as “Nothing Else Matters” and “The Unforgiven.” The songs on the album have been streamed more than 7 billion times, according to Hipgnosis.