Our Investment Adviser and its Advisory Board
We fully endorse our Investment Adviser and its Advisory Board, who believe that any company must reflect the values and best interests of the communities it benefits from.
They are active in using their influence as a catalyst for an end to all discrimination including sex, ethnicity, background, mental health or other discriminatory lenses. We endorse their strong Anti-Racist, Anti Gender and pro LGBTTQQIAAP approach and we welcome social change organisations and programmes which struggle for equality such as the Black Lives Matter Foundation (the charitable foundation within the BLM movement) and the Black Music Action Coalition.
We support the actions taken by our Investment Adviser to promote #blacklivesmatter initiatives and calls to action. Almost all Hipgnosis trade advertising in the last three years has highlighted #blacklivesmatter and sent an important message to the wider music industry that the issue was not confined to a few weeks in June of 2020 but in fact needs to be part of our daily lives.
We support the actions taken by our Investment Adviser to promote the important achievements of the We Are Family Foundation founded by Advisory Board Member, Nile Rodgers, which has created programmes promoting cultural diversity while nurturing and mentoring the vision, talents, and ideas of young people. We support the actions taken by our Investment Adviser to support the work of Earth Percent who provide a simple way for the music industry to support the most impactful organisations addressing Climate Change initiatives.
We support Merck Mercuriadis in joining Richard Branson, Mike Novogratz, Arianna Huffington and other business leaders in the Responsible Business Initiative For Justice to bring an end to the death penalty which has taken the lives of many innocent people of colour purely on the basis of racial and socio-economic injustices. Further to this we continue to support the contributions of former HSM Advisory Board Member, Jason Flom, founding board member of the Innocence Project, in his work for criminal justice reform and his advocacy for those who have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned.
We are proud to support Nordoff Robbins, whose ground-breaking work uses music as therapy to enrich the lives of people with life limiting illnesses, disabilities and feelings of isolation. Hipgnosis has been involved for the third year in a row with the annual Christmas Carol Service, a key highlight of Nordoff Robbins’ fundraising calendar. Our Investment Adviser once again stepped in with a significant donation to create a fantastic experience at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea with Nile Rodgers & CHIC. Merck Mercuriadis and Andrew Wilkinson were the Executive Producers for the event and Nile stepped in at the last minute as The Who were unable to make it. The Who will instead perform to benefit the charity this summer. Both events are expected to raise a combined £200,000, approximately doubling the sum usually raised by this Christmas event.
Our Investment Adviser contributes to the talent of tomorrow via one of the UK’s leading educational establishments in the performing and creative arts, The BRIT School, where Merck Mercuriadis, Nile Rodgers and Paul Burger are all very active. Next year Nile’s Night will be launched in conjunction with the Ivor Novello Awards to raise money that will be shared between The BRIT School, the We Are Family Foundation and the Ivors Academy.
We are delighted that our Investment Adviser has supported Songwriters Hall of Fame, chaired by Nile Rodgers, and their work celebrating and developing writing talent as well as MusiCares, which helps music people in times of need. Given the Song is the currency of the music business and we believe the Songwriter should be appreciated, applauded and celebrated above all, we were delighted the Investment Adviser sponsored the Song of the Year Category at the 2022 A&R Awards for the third year in a row, as well as sponsoring the Songwriter of the Year award. This year our Investment Adviser has also supported the Elton John Aids Foundation mission to end the Aids epidemic; Music To Life, which builds on the strong historical legacy of social movements’ intentional use of music to educate, recruit, and mobilise; and Music Support, the charity created by and for music industry professionals to provide help for UK workers affected by mental ill-health and/or addiction. Rosa Mercuriadis has co-created sicksadgirlz an Instagram community with 30,000 followers where young women can find support for mental health and women’s issues.