Hipgnosis has acquired a music catalogue from songwriter, producer and Snow Patrol keyboardist Johnny McDaid.
McDaid has co-written songs with Ed Sheeran, Pink, Shawn Mendes, Robbie Williams and Snow Patrol that have streamed over 20 billion times.
Collaborating closely with Sheeran since 2013, McDaid co-wrote the most streamed song of all time, Shape Of You. To date, it has been streamed over 2.3 billion times. In addition to winning a Grammy and an Ivor Novello Award, the song reached No. 1 on the singles chart in 34 countries. It has more than 40 million sales and four million radio performances. Johnny
McDaid also co-wrote Photograph, which is the 13th most streamed song of all time with 1.3 billion streams. It is certified 4x platinum in the US and 3x platinum in the UK.
McDaid co-wrote five songs on Sheeran’s X album. He followed that by co-writing/producing eight songs on ÷.
The catalogue also includes Pink’s What About Us, which reached No.1 in nine countries, as well as songs by Robbie Williams, Shawn Mendes, Keith Urban, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Example, Rudimental, Biffy Clyro and Birdy.
Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of Johnny McDaid’s interest in his catalogue of songs released before April 2019, which comprises 91 songs.
McDaid was represented by his manager Erik Eger, business manager Kevin McCullough, lawyer Willie Ryan and attorney Michael Poster of Michelman and Robinson.
Merck Mercuriadis, founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said: “It’s hard to have some of the biggest songs in the world and yet still be so underrated, but Johnny is one of the most extraordinary creators and his work with Ed and so many others speaks for itself and it’s an honour to welcome him and Erik to the Hipgnosis family.”
Eger said: “Merck’s background as an artist manager enabled him to quickly understand what was important to Johnny in this deal and deliver on it. Johnny and I are encouraged by Merck’s mission of advocating for songwriters and wish him every success in this endeavour.”
FOLLOW 
