Neil Young’s gold rush: Rocker sells rights ‘for £110m’

HE’S a veteran of the Sixties counter-culture and an outspoken critic of the commercialisation of music.

But Neil Young has just signed a multi-million-pound deal with a British investment firm that means we could well be hearing a great deal more of his songs.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund splashed out an estimated $ 150million (£110million) for 50 per cent of the worldwide copyright and income from 1,180 tracks written by the Canadian rock and folk legend.

Young, 75, (below) whose songs include Heart of Gold and Rockin’ in the Free World, follows Stevie Nicks and Bob Dylan in selling the rights to their back catalogues.

But he has been the most vocal about how his music is used. Last month he dropped a legal action against the Trump campaign for using his songs at rallies.

In the 1988 track This Note’s For You he sang: ‘Ain’t singing for Pepsi / Ain’t singing for Coke / I don’t sing for nobody / Makes me look like a joke.’

In 1973 he told a concert crowd a company had asked to use his song Heart of Gold. He joked it would have to be renamed ‘Burger of Gold’. Hipgnosis’ income comes from songs that it owns getting played on the radio or in a film or TV show. However, founder and music industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis, said: ‘We won’t waste our time going after McDonald’s. There will never be a “Burger of Gold”, but we will work together to make sure everyone gets to hear them on Neil’s terms. ‘I bought my first Neil Young album aged seven,’ he added. ‘Neil, or at least his music, has been my friend and constant ever since.’ Young has sold more than 40 studio albums, including After The Gold Rush, and multiple live albums. As well as his solo work, he was part of Buffalo Springfield in the 1960s and supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the 1970s. The deal comes days after Hipgnosis acquired the rights for Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s catalogue, as well as half of any yet-to-be released songs. Miss Nicks, another Fleetwood Mac member, sold a majority stake in her catalogue for around $80million (£59million) last year and in December Bob Dylan sold his entire catalogue for an estimated £225million.