KN W Y UR VALUE

In late 2019, Antonoff sold a catalog of nearly 200 songs to Hipgnosis, striking a deal with Merck Mercuriadis’ music investment company while maintaining an interest in and management responsibilities of the catalog. (A representative for Antonoff declined to specify the value of the deal.) The move nods toward what Antonoff describes as a coming “reckoning” within the industry, in which institutions will have to change as creators gain a greater understanding of how much their work is really worth.

I did a deal with Hipgnosis, which was a really positive thing. The funny thing about “selling the catalog” is you don’t sell your whole catalog — you retain control! And unless you develop computer software, you need a partner to go collect your money [anyway]. I think it’s always interesting, the huge valuation of how much songs are worth. Look at who’s upset about it. It’s like, “Cool, you guys do you, but in the meantime, there are some motherfuckers out there who are saying all of our songs are worth about 20 times more as you’ve been telling us, and I can still control all of them. What’s the problem?”

Artists are very easy to take advantage of for three reasons. No. 1: We’re indoctrinated to think that we’re just lucky to be here. No. 2: There’s all these anecdotal stories that are designed to shut you down — you’ve been told a million times by the biggest artists in the world, from TLC to Pearl Jam to Mariah Carey, that you’re not going to beat [the system], so don’t even try. And No. 3: Artists don’t have time. If you’re a real artist, you would sooner foreclose on your house and live in a van than you would take away from the time of you making your work.

There’s a couple of really good people out there trying to shift that. Someone comes along and says, “Hey, I think these songs are worth 15 to 20 times as much,” it really blows things up. And it can be a really beautiful thing for artists who once again, just like all these different outlets, now have another option where they can retain control.