Hipgnosis acquires Tom DeLonge catalogue

07 January 2020 - Press release

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (“Hipgnosis” or the “Company”)

Acquisition of Music Catalogue

The Board of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited and its Investment Adviser, The Family (Music) Limited, are pleased to announce that the Company has acquired a music catalogue from Tom DeLonge, an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and co-founder of one of the millennium’s most popular bands, Blink-182.

Tom DeLonge is a hugely prominent and influential musician; he achieved great success as guitarist and vocalist of pop punk band, Blink-182, which rose from the Southern California punk scene of the early 1990s. The band has received 18 awards from 29 nominations, including MTV Europe Music Awards for “Best New Act” in 2000 and “Best Rock Act” in 2001, ”Favourite Band” at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2001 and Teen Choice Awards for “Choice Rock Group” and ”Best Rock Group” in 2000 and 2001 respectively. The music of Blink-182 is considered to be one of the key influencers of the development of the genre, selling over 13 million albums in the US and over 50 million albums worldwide to date. 

The band’s first studio album, ‘Cheshire Cat’, was released in 1995, bringing the band great success in and outside of the San Diego punk scene. ‘M+M’s’ and ‘Wasting Time’ were released as singles to promote the album, and received popularity locally through radio play. The album is cited by bands and fans as an iconic release, and its popularity spread to the UK where it was certified silver. The second album, ‘Dude Ranch’, was released in 1997 and was the band’s major record label debut. Album sales increased dramatically when lead single ‘Dammit’ was released, a radio hit single that helped the band gain mainstream credibility. The single, which has been streamed over 150 million times, spent 28 weeks on Billboard’s Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart reaching Number 11, nine weeks on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart peaking at Number 28 and nine weeks on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. The album included three further singles; ‘Apple Shampoo’, ‘Dick Lips’ and ‘Josie’, and was certified platinum in 1999. 

The band’s third album, ‘Enema of the State,’ was an enormous commercial success following its release in 1999, selling over 15 million copies worldwide and inspiring a second wave of the pop punk music genre. Three singles were released from the album: ‘What’s My Age Again?’, ‘All the Small Things’, and ‘Adam’s Song’, all of which became major radio and MTV hits. The single, ‘All The Small Things’, which is certified platinum in the UK, Italy and Australia, was released in early 2000 and became the band’s most successful single. The song, which has been streamed over 390 million times on Spotify, reached Number 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, Number 2 on the UK Singles chart, Number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted within the top 20 in ten other countries. ‘All The Small Things’ was selected by Rolling Stone as one of the ‘100 Greatest Pop Songs’ and has appeared on film and gaming soundtracks, marking its cultural significance. The music video won ‘Best Video’ at the 2000 Kerrang! Awards and ‘Best Group Video’ at the MTV Video Music Awards in the same year. 

The band’s fourth album ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket’ continued their run of phenomenal  commercial success selling more than 14 million copies worldwide in 2001 / 2002 as well as achieving tremendous critical acclaim. The album produced three hit singles that were all top ten hits on modern rock charts; ‘The Rock Show’, ‘Stay Together for the Kids’ and ‘First Date’. The album debuted at Number 1 in the US, Canada and Germany, and was the first punk rock record to debut at Number 1 on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 350,000 copies. Billboard attributed the success of the album as a result of the first single, ‘The Rock Show’, which reached Number 2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and in recent years has been streamed over 150 million times. The album was ranked as one of ‘The 50 Best Rock Albums of the 2000s’ by Kerrang! in 2016.

In 2003 the band released an untitled fifth album, also known as ‘Blink-182’, which sold 7 million copies worldwide. Four singles were released from the album; ‘Feeling This’, ‘I Miss You’, ‘Down’ and ‘Always’, the most successful being ‘Feeling This’ and ‘I Miss You’. ‘Feeling This’ reached Number 2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart, was a top 20 hit in the UK and Australia and has been streamed over 150 million times. ‘I Miss You’ reached Number 1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart, and reached Number 8 on the UK Singles chart and has since been streamed over 500 million times. The album debuted at Number 3 on the US Billboard 200 chart.

After leaving Blink-182 in 2004, Tom DeLonge started the band ‘Angels and Airwaves’, which received four MTV Video Music Awards nominations in 2006, and has released five albums to date; ‘We Don’t Need to Whisper’ (2006), ‘I-Empire’ (2007), ‘Love’ (2010), ‘Love: Part Two’ (2011) and ‘The Dream Walker’ (2014). 

In 2011 Tom DeLonge reunited with his ‘Enema Of The State’ era bandmates to make a 6th Blink-182 album ‘Neighborhoods’ which debuted at number 3 on the Billboard charts and has achieved gold status in the US, UK and Australia.

Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of Tom DeLonge’s copyrights on this Catalogue which consists of 157 songs. 

Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said: 

“The influence of Blink-182 on today’s artists is massive. If you’re under 27 years old and making music they are a seminal band. They had angst, they had energy, they had humor but most importantly they had incredible songs and Tom is at the core of that. It’s an honour to welcome him into the Hipgnosis Family”.

Tom DeLonge said:

“It is an honor to have been playing music for so many years and to be in a position to partner with the great team at Hipgnosis to support my work. This is now a perfect opportunity for me to not only celebrate my past, but to also give me the foundation to create more music for many decades to come.”