Grammy-winning superstar Shakira is the latest artist to sell the rights to her music.
The Board of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, a UK investment company, has acquired 100 per cent of the Hips Don't Lie singer's music publishing rights, it announced on Wednesday, January 13.
Shakira's catalogue includes 145 songs, such as Whenever, Wherever, She Wolf and Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).
The Colombian-born star, who released her debut album in 1991 at age 13, rose to international fame with her third album, 1995's Pies Descalzos. The multitalented singer-songwriter-instrumentalist took the American pop scene by storm when she made her US language debut with Laundry Service in 2001.
She’s won three Grammy Awards, 12 Latin Grammys, four MTV Video Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards and 39 Billboard Latin Music Awards. Overall, Shakira has sold 80 million albums.
"Being a songwriter is an accomplishment that I consider equal to and perhaps even greater than being a singer and an artist. At 8 years old — long before I sang — I wrote to make sense of the world. Each song is a reflection of the person I was at the time that I wrote it, but once a song is out in the world, it belongs not only to me but to those who appreciate it as well," Shakira said.
“I’m humbled that songwriting has given me the privilege of communicating with others, of being a part of something bigger than myself.”
The announcement of Hipgnosis acquiring Shakira’s catalogue comes a week after the company purchased a 50 per cent stake in Neil Young's music.
Last month, Bob Dylan said he sold his publishing rights of more than 600 songs to Universal Music Publishing Group.
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
