Hipgnosis puts Brass in Pocket for Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde

Hipgnosis Songs Fund has bought the rights to Brass in Pocket, Don't Get Me Wrong and all other songs written by Chrissie Hynde, the frontwoman for the Pretenders.

The deal to buy 164 songs for an undisclosed sum is the latest in a summer purchase spree by the music rights investment company that has also included the catalogues of Blondie, Barry Manilow and Lady Gaga's producer RedOne.

Hynde's other hit songs included in the deal include Talk of the Town, I'll Stand By You and Back on the Chain Gang. Brass in Pocket has been streamed more than 200m times with Don't Get Me Wrong and Back on the Chain Gang notching up more than 150m streams each.

Hipgnosis, founded by former Elton John and Beyonce manager Merck Mercuriadis, pays artists for the rights to what it says are enduringly popular songs. It then takes payments for sales, radio plays, commercial use and streaming.

Mercuriadis has said streaming has transformed the market for music consumption, making all songs easily available to listeners and ensuring long-term revenues.

He said: "This is very personal for me. Chrissie is one of my favourite songwriters of all time and The Pretenders are one of my favourite bands of all time. Her importance cannot be over estimated."

Hipgnosis raised more than £200m from investors in July and has spent most of the money. It has said it is in talks to buy songs catalogues worth more than £1bn. The FTSE 250 company does not disclose the prices it pays for the catalogues.

The company will hold a capital markets event later on Friday. Its shares rose 0.3% to 122.37p at 08:27 BST.