By Mesfin Fekadu, Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The Board of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, a U.K.-based investment company, has acquired 100% of Grammy-winning superstar Shakira's music publishing rights.
Hipgnosis made the announcement Wednesday. Shakira's catalog includes 145 songs, including "Hips Don't Lie," "Whenever, Wherever," "La Tortura," "She Wolf" and "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)."
Shakira, 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 U.S. language debut, "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 in a statement. "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 catalog comes a week after the company purchased a 50% 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.
Apple’s “Fuzzy Feelings” Wins Primetime Commercial Emmy Award
Apple’s “Fuzzy Feelings” won the primetime commercial Emmy this evening (9/7) during the first of two Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies being held this weekend in the Peacock Theater at LA Live. The yuletide film out of TBWAMedia Arts Lab was directed by Lucia Aniello via Hungry Man in tandem with stop-motion animator Anna Mantzaris of Passion Pictures.
“Fuzzy Feelings” introduces us to an office worker by day and stop-motion artist by night. As an employee, she works for a boss whom she’s grown to hate. So at night, her stop-motion creations put him in dire straits. The young woman makes her stop-motion fare by deploying the iPhone 15 Pro camera and a MacBook Air with M2 to edit it. However, when the woman's day job takes a turn and she starts to see her boss in another light, so too do her stop-motion endeavors as we see the value of working towards a kinder world, and what better time to start than during the holiday season?
Director Aniello is no stranger to the Emmy proceedings. As creator of the HBO Max series Hacks, she has won two Emmys (writing and directing) as well as a DGA Award. This year she is nominated for three more Emmys on the strength of Hacks--Outstanding Comedy Series as well as writing and directing for a comedy series.
This marks the second straight year that an Apple film has won the coveted primetime commercial Emmy. Back in January 2024, Apple’s “The Greatest,” directed by Kim Gehrig of Somesuch, came away with the Emmy.
This time around, “Fuzzy Feelings” topped a field of nominated commercials consisting of: Apple’s “Album Cover” from Apple’s in-house creatives and directed by David Shane of O Positive; Uber One | Uber Eats’ “Best Friends,” also... Read More