By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd (LON:SONG), the UK listed investment company, has today announced that Journey’s song Don’t Stop Believin’ has hit 1bln streams on Spotify. The fund, founded by Merck Mercuriadis, offers investors a pure-play exposure to songs and associated music intellectual property rights.
Don’t Stop Believin’
Hipgnosis co-owns Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ as a result of interest in the catalogues of Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Journey.
The song is only the second classic record to hit 1bln streams on Spotify, alongside Bohemain Rhapsody by the pop group Queen.
“Don't Stop Believin’, 40 years after its release, is now in a category of two along with Bohemian Rhapsody as the only classic songs to achieve 1 billion streams on Spotify,” Mercuriadis said in a statement. “To put it in perspective that's a list that excludes some of the greatest artists of all time, such as The Beatles, Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones, and only includes Journey and Queen.”
Hipgnosis
The fund’s business model is based on streaming. Nowadays streaming platforms offer recurring payments for songs streamed on their platforms and Hipgnosis aims to aggregate catalogues of songs into one fund and reap the rewards of the royalties. In theory, this should provide a steady stream of income for investors.
Their fund’s catalogue includes artists from the Kaiser Chiefs to Mark Ronson, and from Blondie to Barry Manilow.