Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie has sold her 115-title song catalog to Hipgnosis, the fast-growing music company that has spent more than $2 billion in three years acquiring rights to a vast number of popular songs.
McVie, who first joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970, is the writer of many of the long-running group’s biggest hits, including “Don’t Stop,” “You Make Loving Fun,” “Over My Head,” “Songbird,” “Say You Love Me” and others. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, Fleetwood Mac are one of the most commercially successful music artists of the past 50 years, with the Grammy-winning 1977 album “Rumours” selling more than 45 million copies worldwide; second is 1987’s “Tango in the Night,” at 15 million.
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McVie is the fourth of the band’s five members to make such a deal in the past nine months, and the second to go with Hipgnosis, after fellow Mac singer-songwriter Lindsey Buckingham completed the sale of 100% of his publishing rights to the company in January. Stevie Nicks, the group’s other major singer and songwriter, struck a far-reaching $100 million deal with Primary Wave late last year, and drummer-cofounder Mick Fleetwood made one with BMG comprising a variety of rights in January.
According to the announcement, Hipgnosis has acquired McVie’s worldwide copyright, ownership and financial interest, including writer’s share, of all compositions and neighboring rights. The deal also includes her pre-Fleetwood Mac work with the British group Chicken Shack and her solo material, including her 1969 debut, “Christine Perfect.” Hipgnosis has acquired catalogs including Neil Young, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shakira, Barry Manilow and many successful songwriter-producers.
McVie was represented by business manager Paul Glass at the Colony Group, manager Martin Wyatt and attorney Mario González.
“I am so excited to belong to the Hipgnosis family, and thrilled that you all regard my songs worthy of merit,” McVie said of the deal. “I’d like to thank you all for your faith in me, and I’ll do all I can to continue this new relationship and help in any way I can! Thank you so much!”
Hignosis cofounder Merck Mercuriadis said, “Christine McVie is one of the greatest songwriters of all time, having guided Fleetwood Mac to almost 150 million albums sold and making them one of the best-selling bands of all time globally. In the last 46 years the band have had three distinct writers and vocalists but Christine’s importance is amply demonstrated by the fact that eight of the 16 songs on the band’s Greatest Hits albums are from Christine. It’s wonderful for us to welcome Christine to the Hipgnosis Family and particularly wonderful to reunite her once again at Hipgnosis with Lindsey Buckingham. Between Christine and Lindsey we now have 48 of 68 songs on the band’s most successful albums.”
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