Merck Mercuriadis‘s Hipgnosis Songs Fund has acquired a music catalog from Michael Knox, an American music producer best known for discovering and producing American country music singer Jason Aldean.
Michael Knox (pictured) has produced eight albums for Jason Aldean, four of which consecutively reached No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart.
Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of Michael Knox’s producer royalties for the catalog which will include all of Jason Aldean’s recordings for the duration of his agreement with the Broken Bow Records label including his brand new album due for release later this year.
Together with Jason Aldean, Michael Knox has sold over 35 million singles in addition to 18m albums, and has 22 No.1 hits on either the Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts, including Girl Like You which is the No.1 Airplay song of 2019 to date on the Country Aircheck Top Airplay Songs.
The albums include the eponymous debut Jason Aldean (2005), Relentless (2007), Wide Open (2009), My Kinda Party (2010), Night Train (2012), Old Boots, New Dirt (2014), They Don’t Know (2016) and most recently Rearview Town (2018).
“I am excited to be a part of the Hipgnosis movement. Merck has shown a lot of excitement and appreciation for my 20 years of hard work.”
Michael Knox
Jason Aldean has been nominated for more than 115 music awards by the Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, American Music Awards, iHeart Radio, the Academy Of Country Music, the Country Music Association, American Country Awards and Country Music Television, and has won 28 times.
Michael Knox is currently the Senior-Vice President of peermusic Nashville. Prior to this Knox was an executive at Warner Chappell Music. In 2011, Knox won Album of the Year from the Country Music Association for his production on My Kinda Party by Jason Aldean.
In 2012, he won two Academy of Country Music awards for Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson’s Don’t You Wanna Stay. He won the Academy of Country Music award for Vocal Event in 2013 for producing The Only Way I Know, with Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Eric Church. In 2018 Michael Knox launched the syndicated radio show Knox Country 360 as well as a joint venture with BMG on Music Knox Records.
Michael Knox is the son of Buddy Knox, with his father having composed seminal classics such as Party Doll and Hula Love.
“This is just the beginning of our endeavors in Nashville where we have the greatest respect for the creative community and its incomparable tradition of great songs!”
Merck Mercuriadis
Merck Mercuriadis, Founder of The Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said: “Jason Aldean, as recognized by the Academy of Country Music, is undoubtedly country music’s most important artist of the last 15 years.
“Behind him stands Michael Knox who is arguably the best ‘record man’ in Nashville with the responsibility of identifying great songs and producing great recordings.
Added Mercuriadis: “Theirs is a relationship that has not been seen since the days of George Jones and Billy Sherrill, and it’s an honor to welcome Michael into the Hipgnosis family. We are very excited to work with Michael, Jason, Jason’s management team, the peermusic team and Broken Bow.
“This is just the beginning of our endeavors in Nashville where we have the greatest respect for the creative community and its incomparable tradition of great songs!”
Michael Knox said: “I am excited to be a part of the Hipgnosis movement. Merck has shown a lot of excitement and appreciation for my 20 years of hard work.
“It’s difficult letting go of something I love so much but finding someone as passionate about music as I am, made this transition a lot easier.”
Jason Aldean added: “Michael is like a brother to me. He always believed in me as an artist when nobody else did and you can’t put a price tag on that. He has taught me a lot in this business and I wouldn’t have had the career I have had without him.”
Hipgnosis has also recently bought up rights to No.1 songs such as Yeah by Usher, Check On It by Beyoncé, We Belong Together by Mariah Carey and Be Without You by Mary J. Blige, and snapped up a music catalog from American songwriter, producer and singer Brittany Hazzard, aka Starrah.Music Business Worldwide
