MERCK ROUNDS UP MARK RONSON

Mark Ronson’s latest collaborator is Merck Mercuriadis. The Hipgnosis Songs Fund and its investment adviser, The Family (Music) Ltd., have acquired 70% of the songwriter’s music publishing catalog.

The catalog contains 315 songs.

Ronson and Hipgnosis founder Mercuriadis have known each other for nearly a decade and a half.

“He was an artist’s guy then and he’s an artist’s guy now,” Ronson said. “I’ve always had enormous respect for his having such a credible, seminal management roster—artists I was truly influenced by from Nile Rodgers to Jane’s Addiction. And that same respect has continued with what he’s done with Hipgnosis.”

Ronson’s songwriting credits include “Uptown Funk,” “Shallow” from A Star is Born, and “Electricity,” his hit with Diplo under name Silk City.

“Mark has been amongst the most exciting creators in the world over the last 20 years co-writing and producing records for the most important artists of their time including Amy Winehouse, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa,” Mercuriadis said. “I have been an admirer ever since [2006’s] ‘Stop Me’ and it’s an honor welcoming him and [manager] Brandon Creed to the Hipgnosis Family.”