Springsteen Shows Private Equity Who's Boss
If you’re going to sell out, do it at the top of the market.
Laughing all the way to the bank.
Photographer: Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Bon Jovi fans may have been aghast at seeing guitar hero Richie Sambora dressed as a giant baked potato on The Masked Singer TV show in February, gamely running through hits by Fleetwood Mac and The Pretenders.
Investment fund Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd. was thrilled, though. The holder of the rights to Sambora’s own hits and some of those he played makes money from getting musical nudges on TV and generating new interest in old tunes. This, combined with growth in streaming platforms such as Spotify Technology SA, is why Hipgnosis splashed $2 billion between 2018 and 2021 on music catalogs from Neil Young to Chrissie Hynde, saying songs were “as good as gold or oil.” It wasn’t alone: Blackstone Inc., KKR & Co., BlackRock Inc. and other financiers also helped to fund mega-purchases of the rights to hits from the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.