Hipgnosis buys 50% of Rick James catalogue

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited has acquired a 50% share of the music catalogue of Grammy Award-winning songwriter, record producer, and punk-funk inventor, Rick James for an undisclosed sum.

The company on Friday said the deal involved publishing interests, writers' share, neighbouring rights and recorded masters share of income in his catalogue comprising 97 songs.

James is best known for his platinum certified album 'Street Songs', which spent an unprecedented 78 weeks on the US R&B chart, including 20 weeks at number 1, and included the global hit 'Super Freak'.