Nowhere is British creative genius more evident than in recorded music.

The worldwide success of artists like Adele, Ed Sheeran and Stormzy, who took over from The Beatles, Elton John and Pink Floyd, is a testament to the talent of these islands.

Yet, in large part because of the takeover of EMI a decade ago, much of the intellectual property in British music left these shores a long time ago.

This could all change if Merck Mercuriadis succeeds. The 57-year-old Canadian-born music mogul started working for Virgin Records and went on to lead Iron Maiden, Beyonce, Elton John, Joss Stone and many more.

A stocky figure, dressed head to toe in black Prada, Mercuriadis is one of those entrepreneurs who is a Covid winner.

His investment fund Hipgnosis, which he co-founded with Nile Rodgers of Chic, was launched less than three years ago and has embarked on a huge shopping spree, securing the rights to some of the most beloved songs. of the planet.

“During the pandemic our revenues have skyrocketed and our share price has been at an all-time high,” he tells me as we chat over a drink of water in the company’s Spartan headquarters. at Notting Hill Gate.

But why would musicians sell their rights to an investment fund? And can investors really get a good return on the tracks, especially at the high prices Hipgnosis paid?

LOQUACIE and enthusiastic, Mercuriadis uses the contacts and encyclopedic knowledge he has accumulated in his previous life as a roadie, producer and manager of rock groups to build up a portfolio of songbooks as quickly as possible.

Earlier this month, he wrote the biggest check to date – £ 249million – when he bought 33,000 tracks, including B-52’s Rock Lobster, Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way and All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey.

The latest portfolio, purchased from rival fund Kobalt Capital, also includes figures from Katy Perry and Demi Lovato.

Mercuriadis is a missionary for songbooks value and is determined to buy as many as he can get his hands on his UK fund.

British talent: Ed Sheeran, left, and Stormzy, right, recently took over from The Beatles, Elton John and Pink Floyd

It’s been a daunting task educating the investment community that songs can generate reliable returns, and he concedes he’s been criticized for allegedly overpaying.

Nonetheless, its charisma, coupled with the recognition that streaming is transforming the way people access music, has won over many of the British Battalion’s big investors.

The Church of England, Investec, Aviva, Axa and Newton are among those buying into Hipgnosis and driving the fund’s value beyond £ 1 billion.

“I spent most of two years educating institutional investors about predictable and reliable earnings from proven songs,” he says. What makes them attractive is that they are “uncorrelated” to what is happening in the daily music market.

When someone wakes up in the morning to their favorite song, regardless of the vintage, a micro share of the fees paid to the download service – whether Spotify or Apple Music – goes to the songbook owner. Mercuriadis likes to compare and contrast the constant income of songs proven with gold and oil.

“If Donald Trump wakes up tomorrow morning and does something stupid, or if Boris Johnson does something similar, then the price of gold and oil is affected.

“Whereas with songs, if you’re living your best life, you’re celebrating on a soundtrack of songs.

“Likewise, if you encounter the kind of challenges that we have experienced [with Covid] over the past six months you comfort each other and escape into great songs. ‘

The germination of Hipgnosis came with the creation of Spotify, which Mercuriadis describes as the “first streaming legitimized as a potential music release”.

He explains that before streaming, the average person didn’t pay for the music, and the benchmark for extraordinary success was the platinum record, which meant you sold a million copies in the United States with a population of 360 million people.

The remaining 359 million may have listened to it “but they don’t pay for it”. They were happy to see it on TV or listen to it on the radio “but they are not putting their hands in their pockets”.

The observation of the founder of Hipgnosis was that a luxury purchase would become a utility purchase, for example costing £ 120 per year for a subscription to a download service. His proposal was to turn over some of this untapped income to the songwriter.

Music tycoons: Merck Mercuriadis, right, co-founded Hipgnosis with songwriter Nile Rodgers of Chic (left)

Mercuriadis acknowledged that the greatest songwriters – such as Diane Warren and Justin Tranter – were getting bigger “but not being paid well”.

What gives Mercuriadis an edge over its competition – another Round Hill music royalty owner recently announced an initial public offering – is his personal relationship and trust with performers and composers built over the years. decades.

He says, “Someone like Chrissie Hynde grew up during the Vietnam protests. Her songs have the same kind of integrity as Neil Young or Bob Dylan. She wasn’t just going to put her songs in between. anyone’s hands.

“We’re the only company with a reputation for making money with artists, songwriters and producers rather than at the expense of artists, songwriters and producers,” he says.

Unlike some recent newcomers to the London Stock Exchange, Mercuriadis is meticulous in ensuring that its FTSE 250 fund is managed with care.

His initial investment in what is now a £ 1bn firm was £ 1.5million, and he went on to buy another half a million pounds in stock.

He aligned his compensation with the performance paid in shares which are blocked. He has also sought to bring in trusted names in the industry as independent directors.

These include Andrew Wilkinson – the former commercial director of The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd – as chairman of the audit committee, and Sylvia Coleman, vice chairman of Sony UK.

The chairman is Andrew Sutch, a former senior partner at the law firm Stephenson Harwood, who also heads two other listed trusts.

On the social level, Mercuriadis underlines its references in the African-American community. “Black music made the world go round. Motown is a prime example.

“There are young people in the world, including in China, who listen to hip-hop music and want to be black.

“Despite this, they [black people] were brutalized by the police, ”he said.

Mercuriadis has an insatiable level of ambition for Hipgnosis – a brand name given to him by his friend Storm Thorgerson, album cover designer for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney.

The day we met, he woke up listening to Shangri-La from The Kinks.

Within an hour, he had emailed Ray Davies reminding him that they were both Gooners (Arsenal supporters) and that he would be interested in selling his songbook.