Joel Little sells catalogue to London-based Hipgnosis Song Fund

Hipgnosis Song Fund has acquired the publishing catalogue of award-winning New Zealand songwriter and producer Joel Little.

The deal sees Hipgnosis acquire the song rights to 178 tracks from Little's back catalogue.

A filing from Hipgnosis found that Little's catalogue generated US$4.32 million in 2019 and raised US$2.98 million in 2018, with his catalogue generating over 15 billion plays on global streaming services.

After beginning his career as the singer and guitarist of Auckland pop-punk band Goodnight Nurse, Little rose to global prominence as the producer and co-writer of Lorde's 2013 debut LP Pure Heroine, with the pair winning Song of the Year at the 2014 GRAMMY Awards for their work on 'Royals'.

As well as continuing to work alongside Lorde, Little has also penned hits for the likes of Khalid ('Young Dumb & Broke'), Taylor Swift ('Me!', 'You Need to Calm Down'), Imagine Dragons ('Whatever It Takes') and Amy Shark ('Everybody Rise').

Announcing the news over the weekend, Hipgnosis Song Fund founder Merck Mercuriadis labelled Little as "one of the most important songwriters in the world today".

"More than eight years on from the iconic song that is 'Royals', he has continued to deliver massive hits for Lorde, Taylor Swift, Khalid, Imagine Dragons and many more," Mercuriadis said.

"His songs are amongst the most streamed songs of the last 10 years amassing more than 15 billion streams globally. It’s wonderful to welcome Joel and Ashley (Page, Little's manager) to the Hipgnosis Family.”

Little, meanwhile, addressed the prospect of being involved with Hipgnosis as it continues on its catalogue acquisition spree.

“I feel incredibly grateful for my career in songwriting up to this point. It’s really nice to know that these songs will be so well taken care of by Merck and his team of passionate music people," Little said.

“Hipgnosis have big plans and I’m very excited to see how far they can champion the cause for all songwriters in the coming years.”

The company has been on the acquisition path recently, also signing deals for the songs of Mark Ronson, Metallica, Michael Buble, Shakira and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham.