Thursday, January 14, 2021

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM SELLS HIS SONG CATALOG TO HIPNOSIS

HIPGNOSIS FULLY ACQUIRES LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM SONG CATALOG, INCLUDING 100% WRITER AND PUBLISHER SHARE OF FLEETWOOD MAC HITS


Just one day after it announced the acquisition of Jimmy Iovine’s production royalties, the Merck Mercuriadis-led entity has confirmed yet another major rights buyout.

This time, Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of Lindsey Buckingham’s publishing rights, including both his publishing and writer’s share, across 161 songs.

Those songs include an array of hits that Buckingham wrote and/or co-wrote for Fleetwood Mac, including Go Your Own Way and The Chain.

Hipgnosis previously acquired a 25% stake in Buckingham’s song catalog via its buyout of a publishing portfolio from Kobalt for $323m in September (announced in November).

As part of its new agreement with Buckingham, announced today (January 5), Hipgnosis also acquires a 50% share of any unreleased compositions.

Today’s news means that the majority of publishing rights for songs penned by two of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest songwriters – Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – are now owned by modern, highly acquisitive, rights management firms. (Nicks sold 80% of her publishing rights last year to Hipgnosis rival Primary Wave for around $80m.)

Merck Mercuriadis, founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said: “Lindsey Buckingham is one of the greatest guitarists, songwriters and producers of all time yet is still so underrated. His work with Fleetwood Mac has brought the world unparalleled joy over the last 45 years and he belongs in any discussion featuring Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney. It’s wonderful to welcome him and his iconic songs both as a solo artist and with Fleetwood Mac to the Hipgnosis family”.

Lindsey Buckingham said: “Prior to arriving at an agreement with Hipgnosis, I had wonderful long conversations with Merck Mercuriadis. I was pleased to find a kindred spirit, someone who’s a big fan of my work in Fleetwood Mac, and an even bigger fan of my solo efforts.

“I look forward to working with Merck and the whole Hipgnosis team going into the future, and am confident that my body of work will be curated with great heart and insight.”

Lindsey Buckingham was represented by managers Matt Sadie and Simon White at C3 Management, his attorney, David Altschul, of Altschul Olin & Vandergast LLP, and his business manager, Rick Mozenter of Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman.

Lindsey Buckingham released his debut album Buckingham Nicks in 1973 with his then partner, Stevie Nicks. The duo then joined Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Christine McVie as Fleetwood Mac.

Buckingham’s second album with Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, was released in 1977 and has sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it one of the nine bestselling albums of all time. It won Album of the Year at the 1978 Grammy Awards, containing Go Your Own Way, written by Buckingham, and The Chain, co-written by Buckingham. Buckingham also wrote Second Hand News and Never Going Back Again on Rumours.

Buckingham’s four songs from Rumours have collectively been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify alone.

In 1979, Fleetwood Mac released the multi-platinum album Tusk, whose title track was written by Buckingham. He also wrote the likes of What Makes You Think You’re The One, Save Me A Place, Walk A Thin Line, Not That Funny and I Know I’m Not Wrong on the record.

Buckingham released his first solo album Law and Order in 1981, which included the Top 10 single Trouble. He then returned to Fleetwood Mac to record the UK No.1 and multi-platinum album Mirage which sold over 4 million copies.

In 1987, Fleetwood Mac released Tango in the Night which sold over 15 million copies worldwide. The LP featured four US Top 20 hits including Big Love, which was written by Buckingham and reached the Top 10 in both the US and the UK.

In 2003, Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac released the album Say You Will which sold more than 2 million copies worldwide and featured the hit single Peacekeeper written by Buckingham.

As a member of Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and in 2011 was listed in Rolling Stone Magazine’s ‘100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time’.

In addition to his work with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has released five solo albums including Out of the Cradle, Under the Skin, Gift of Screws and Seeds We Sow.

In 2017, Buckingham and his Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie released the UK Top 5 and certified silver album Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie.

UK-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund owned (or owned cuts in) 57,836 songs in its portfolio as of the end of September 2020, when its market cap value stood at circa $1.7bn.

Music Business Worldwide

Friday, January 01, 2021

Stevie Nicks' 2020 was a "Dreams" come true

 The Year in Music: Stevie Nicks' 2020 was a "Dreams" come true

While 2020 was pretty much a terrible year for everyone -- especially the music industry, which lost billions due to the shutdown of live events -- some artists not only survived, but thrived.  Here's how 2020 was for one of those artists: Stevie Nicks.

"Dreams," the number-one hit that Stevie wrote for Fleetwood Mac in the '70s, became an unexpected phenomenon when an Idaho man named Nathan Apodaca posted a video on TikTok of himself lip-syncing along to it while swigging Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice and riding a skateboard.

TikTok users rushed to post their own versions of the #DreamsChallenge, as did Stevie, Mick Fleetwood and ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.  As a result, "Dreams" re-entered the Billboard chart, climbing to #12, while its parent album, Rumours, returned to the top 10 for the first time in 42 years.

Speaking with CBS Sunday Morning on October 25, Stevie said, "This TikTok thing has kind of blown my mind. I'm happy about it because it seems to have made so many people happy."

Also in 2020, Stevie released a politically charged song called "Show Me the Way," joined Miley Cyrus on a remix of Miley's hit "Midnight Sky" -- which interpolated Stevie's "Edge of Seventeen" -- and was sampled on Dua Lipa's remix album. 

In addition, Stevie put out a live album and concert film, 24 Karat Gold. In December, she closed out the year by selling an 80% stake in her song catalog for an estimated $100 million.

By Andrea Dresdale - AbcNewsRadio

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' Among Best Selling UK Vinyl Albums of 2020

 


Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' expected to be announced as one of the year’s best selling vinyl albums in the UK. 

Nearly 5 million (4.8m) LPs were purchased in the UK over the past 12 months – a leap of nearly a tenth on sales in 2019 and a 13th consecutive year of growth since 2007.  Vinyl LPs now account for nearly 1 in 5 of all albums purchased (18%) and are at their highest level since the early nineties. Vinyl generates almost twice as much in industry revenues as music video streaming platforms, such as YouTube, despite the tens of billions of videos watched every year.

The BPI will report its final music consumption figures on January 4th 2021.

Predicted best-selling vinyl albums for 2020 (Based on YTD Official Charts data)

1. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
2. Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
3. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
4. Nirvana – Nevermind
5. Harry Styles – Fine Line
6. Kylie Minogue – Disco
7. AC/DC – Power Up
8. Queen – Greatest Hits
9. IDLES – Ultra Mono
10. Arctic Monkeys – Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Source: BPI

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Fleetwood Mac's Billboard Year End Charts Roundup


 

Billboard End of Year Charts 2020

Rumours and Greatest Hits along with Dreams were the predominant forces propelling Fleetwood Mac's placement on this year's Billboard Year-End Charts.

BILLBOARD TOP 200 ALBUMS
53 Rumours Fleetwood Mac

Top 100 Artists
76 Fleetwood Mac

TOP 100 BILLBOARD 200 ARTISTS
44 Fleetwood Mac

TOP 75 Digital Song Sales
58 Dreams Fleetwood Mac

TOP 50 CATALOG ALBUMS
2 Rumours Fleetwood Mac

TOP 10 CATALOG ARTISTS
5 Fleetwood Mac

TOP 100 TOP ALBUM SALES
25 Rumours Fleetwood Mac
62 Greatest Hits Fleetwood Mac

TOP 25 TOP ALBUM SALES ARTISTS
12 Fleetwood Mac

TOP 25 VINYL ALBUMS
9 Rumours Fleetwood Mac

TOP 50 ROCK ARTISTS
3 Fleetwood Mac

TOP 25 ROCK ALBUMS ARTISTS
3 Fleetwood Mac

TOP 50 CANADIAN ALBUMS
47 Rumours Fleetwood Mac

TOP 25 TASTEMAKERS ALBUMS
7 Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

Below are the current charts for the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

MICK FLEETWOOD AMONG THE CELEBS APPEARING AT TIKTOK NYE PARTY



 

Mick Fleetwood is among the celebrities who will appear on a special New Year's Eve livestream party hosted by TikTok that will celebrate the social media platform's highlights of 2020.

The event, which begins at 9:30 p.m. ET on December 31, will count down TikTok's top 10 moments of the past year.

The Fleetwood Mac drummer started his own TikTok account this year after user @420Doggface208 -- aka Nathan Apodaca -- turned the band's 1977 song "Dreams" into a massive viral hit.

Apodaca's clip, which shows him grooving to "Dreams" as he sips Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice drink while rolling along on a skateboard, landed at #2 on TikTok's list of top viral videos of the year. It's popularity inspired Mick, as well as Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, to make their own TikTok clips set to "Dreams."

The video also helped propel "Dreams" back up the Billboard charts.

TikTok's New Year's Eve livestream will be hosted by rapper Lil Yachty and social-media personality Brittany Broski, and also will feature appearances by rap star Cardi B and ex-One Direction member Liam Payne, as well as performances by Jason DeRulo, rapper Saweetie and others.

See more at TikTok

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Fleetwood Mac's ability to find gorgeous, fragile beauty in even dark days is extremely relatable



Why Fleetwood Mac's music resonated so deeply in 2020
The band's ability to find gorgeous, fragile beauty in even dark days is extremely relatable

By Annie Zaleski - Salon

Stevie Nicks is this year’s patron saint of dreaming - Slate

The Music Club, 2020
Entry 12: The year in “Dreams.”
By BRITTANY SPANOS - Slate

In Slate’s annual Music Club, Slate music critic Carl Wilson emails with fellow critics—this year, Rolling Stone staff writer Brittany Spanos, New York Times contributor Lindsay Zoladz, and special guests Ann Powers, Jack Hamilton, Chris Molanphy, and Julyssa Lopez—about the year in music.

Hello again Music Clubbers,

First, Lindsay, I absolutely loved Letter to You, especially as a meditation on friends who have died in a year full of loss. It broke my heart and lifted me up in a way only Bruce Springsteen can.

To Ann’s question about musical lineages and what felt completely new, I would be remiss to not bring up one veteran rock star who has had quite the year: Stevie Nicks. The influence of her and Fleetwood Mac has never felt more potent in popular music, while one of the biggest songs she ever wrote for FM had a major comeback. It was the year of “Dreams,” in a year where it felt like we were in a dream deficit.

What was it about “Dreams,” one of many popular singles on Fleetwood Mac’s immensely popular 1977 album Rumours? It was a remarkable song even then, becoming the band’s only No. 1 hit in the United States. It’s one of the more subtle break-up songs on an album filled to the brim with divorce, infidelity, and heartbreak. Nicks’ now signature mysticism builds a quiet storm of her own as she gives a romantic weather report:

Thunder only happens when it’s raining

Players only love you when they’re playing

Women, they will come and they will go

When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know

Growing up, “Dreams” always embodied a certain type of wistful, ’70s nostalgia. It was less about the decade itself, since I did not actually live through the ’70s, but the type of ’70s that was sold to me in Delia’s catalogs, sitcoms, and my own family’s vintage photos. There’s a sun-soaked, bohemian ethereality to that version of the decade, built both by retro revisionism and by the fact that a song like “Dreams” exists.

I noticed that “Dreams” was gaining some traction early during lockdown. This was mostly because I am someone who listens to a lot of Fleetwood Mac and solo Stevie Nicks, no pandemic needed, so it felt surreal to see the song all over TikTok and Spotify’s snitch-y sidebar of what your friends are listening to. On TikTok especially, the content around “Dreams” was so chaotically variant and diverse, it made me tear up to see the song reach so many different kinds of users and content creators. There were the girls in bell bottoms who would roller skate down empty streets to it.

There were the cosplayers, either dressing up as Nicks or writing visual fanfic of what it was like for her ex-boyfriend/bandmate/eternal bandmate Lindsey Buckingham to hear this particular break-up song about him in the studio for the first time.

Of course, because this is TikTok, there were also highly choreographed routines.

Nothing took off outside of TikTok quite like the serene, brain-cleansing footage of user @420doggface208—whose real name is Nathan Apodaca—skateboarding, drinking cranberry juice, and lip-syncing to “Dreams.” This particular video blew up one evening in October (actually while I was on the phone with Stevie Nicks, to briefly flex). Something about it hit our collective consciousness’ need for serenity now. We all aspire to be as pleasantly unbothered as Apodaca is, enjoying his juice and listening to Fleetwood Mac, with a road all to himself and his skateboard. No thunder or rain in sight.

Apodaca’s video became the type of viral moment that could quickly go sour: everyone had their own version and even Ocean Spray had capitalized on the unintentional #sponcon. But it still hasn’t: It became exciting to see it explode, even once the members of Fleetwood Mac recreated the video, with heavy artistic license.

15 Best Remixes Of 2020 #4 "Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)" Miley Cyrus & Stevie Nicks

 The 15 Best Remixes Of 2020


4. “Edge Of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)” — Miley Cyrus & Stevie Nicks

Mashing Stevie Nicks’ “Edge Of Seventeen” with Miley Cyrus’ “Midnight Sky” is a stroke of genius.

Stevie Nicks lending her voice to Miley Cyrus’ “Midnight Sky” is an intergenerational collaboration for the ages.

- Idolator



2020 In Review: Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks’s brilliant October single “Show Them the Way”

The Boomer Rock Renaissance 2020 Never Saw Coming

Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks’s brilliant October single “Show Them the Way” prays aloud for this generation to find a song that galvanizes its politics as the protest music of her own formative years did.


By Craig Jenkins - Vulture

Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams" Top 25 Songs of 2020 (Rollingstone)

 

Year in Review: Rob Sheffield’s Top 25 Songs of 2020

#25 Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams"

Who else but Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham could keep re-breaking the same chain for over 40 years, from Tusk to TikTok? “Dreams” became the year’s most surprising TikTok sensation, inspiring Stevie, Lindsey, and Mick Fleetwood to join the fun — probably the closest we’ll ever get to a reunion. Yet another weird twist in the endlessly weird Mac saga. There’s something so beautiful — and so scary — in the way these bad lovers are still haunted by the music they made together, and how the music still refuses to give them their freedom. It’s official: Stevie is the thunder that only happens when it’s raining. And Stevie is always raining.

- Rollingstone

FLEETWOOD MAC 1969-1974 (The Best Reissues And Box Sets Of 2020)

The Best Reissues And Box Sets Of 2020 

FLEETWOOD MAC
1969-1974

This box offers remastered versions of the seven studio albums Fleetwood Mac recorded during its formative period. There are some stone-cold classics here – the early blues-leaning, but not entirely blues-derived, Then Play On, featuring founding guitarist Peter Green, and the later ones, too, including Bare Trees and Heroes Are Hard To Find, which showcase guitarist and songwriter Bob Welch. That's not all the required listening however: There's also a curious radio set from December 1974, just before Welch left the band – that fateful change that led to the arrival of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham and the hitmaking era that followed. In this "before" document, it's possible to hear all the stylistic evolutions of Fleetwood Mac swirling powerfully together: Starting with the incantory blues and whiplashing rhythm-section choreography of "Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)," the set includes a lovely and wistful rendering of Christine McVie's "Spare Me a Little," a wicked "Black Magic Woman" and Welch's "Hypnotized," which dissolves the concert in a dreamlike aura. It's a glimpse of an inventive, well-oiled band at an amazing moment, made just a bit more amazing when you discover it was one of only two FM performances in all of 1974.

- Tom Moon NPR

STEVIE NICKS PARTNERS WITH PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC!

Press Release:

STEVIE NICKS PARTNERS WITH PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC!
THIS NEW PARTNERSHIP WILL SEE THE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER ACQUIRE A MAJORITY STAKE IN THE LEGENDARY SINGER’S PUBLISHING COPYRIGHTS, AS WELL AS NAME AND LIKENESS SONGS INCLUDE “EDGE OF SEVENTEEN,” “RHIANNON,” “LANDSLIDE” AND “DREAMS”



“The true rock legends change the game. Stevie Nicks, as a member of Fleetwood Mac, and later in her solo career, changed the game not only for women, but for what you could do in rock as a songwriter and a singer.” – NPR

NEW YORK, N.Y. (December 4, 2020) – As her hit song “Dreams” was re-entering the Billboard charts, the iconic singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks and Primary Wave Music were finalizing their partnership that will see Stevie join their family of legendary and iconic songwriters. This partnership continues to prove that Primary Wave is truly a home to the legends in music, furthering a year of incredible acquisitions and partnerships. Named one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of all Time by Rolling Stone, Stevie Nicks is the only woman to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – the first time in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac and then again in 2019 as a solo artist. Over the course of her unprecedented career, she has received eight Grammy Award nominations and two American Music Award nominations as a solo artist, as well as another five Grammy nominations and a win for Album of the Year as a member of Fleetwood Mac.

Primary Wave’s partnership with Nicks will see the dynamic publisher acquire a majority stake in her publishing copyrights, as well as representing the Grammy winner in brand alliance and brand marketing opportunities and will partner with Kobalt on administration for the catalog. The deal includes many of her timeless hits as frontwoman for Fleetwood Mac including the platinum hit “Landslide,” the Grammy-nominated “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stand Back,” as well as “Dreams,” which recently saw a resurgence thanks to a viral Tik Tok video posted this October. The song, which was the second single off Fleetwood Mac’s critically acclaimed, 1977 album Rumours, recently went Top 10 on Billboard’s streaming chart, saw another 16 million streams bringing it to over a half-billion plays on Spotify alone, and gave Stevie the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Songwriters chart thanks to her writing credit on the classic hit.

Additional terms of the deal include a strategic publishing alliance with the singer that will allow her to sign new songwriters to a joint venture. Stevie will also now have access to Primary Wave’s entire marketing, branding, Broadway, Film/TV, and digital strategy teams, as well as their licensing and synch departments.

Of this new partnership, CEO & Founder of Primary Wave Music Publishing, Larry Mestel said, “To say we’re excited to welcome the incredible Stevie Nicks to the Primary Wave family would be a dramatic understatement. If Primary Wave were starting our company today, Stevie Nicks would be one of the shining pillars, a true legend among legends.” He goes on, “She is a groundbreaking artist, and the longevity of her iconic career comes from writing songs, instantly recognizable and critically acclaimed, that stand the test of time.”

Sheryl Louis, Stevie’s long-time manager, and Jamie Young, her attorney, negotiated the deal on behalf of Stevie Nicks.

Legendary singer, songwriter and storyteller Stevie Nicks is one of rock and roll’s most successful, inimitable, and groundbreaking artists. As a multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning solo artist and member of Fleetwood Mac, she is the only woman to have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice and has collectively sold more than 140 million albums. Having captivated audiences for decades with her iconic live performances, distinctive songwriting, and constant cultural influence, Nicks continues to be an inspiration and mentor to younger performers. A member of Fleetwood Mac since 1974, the band’s enduring spirit stands for an incredible body of music – including Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time – that has connected with generations of people all over the world for more than 50 years. In October 2020, Stevie Nicks 24 Karat Gold The Concert was released at select cinemas, drive-ins and exhibition spaces around the world for two nights only. The sold-out film offered audiences a virtual front-row seat to the magic Nicks brought on her sold-out 24 Karat Gold Tour. Nicks also recently released her first new music in six years with the song “Show Them The Way” which also featured a stunning Cameron Crowe directed video. The song originally began as a poem and a track she calls “a prayer for people to unite; a prayer for people to get together.”