Former longtime Metallica producer Bob Rock who worked on iconic albums from “The Black Album (Metallica), Load, Reload, Garage Inc., S&M, and St. Anger has sold his rights to “The Black Album”, among other pieces of music he helmed in the studio. Hipgnosis Songs Fund, an investment and song management company, acquired a total of 43 songs from Rock, who produced Metallica’s ‘90s discography and 2003’s St. Anger.

Bob Rock built his producing career not only working with Metallica, but classic albums from The Cult, Motley Crue, and more recently, Michael Bublé. 

The exact amount Rock was paid for the Black Album has not been made public, but one can imagine a large line of zeros at the end of that check. “The breadth of Bob Rock’s enormous successes are almost impossible to match by any creator in the history of music,” says Hipgnosis Songs founder Merck Mercuriadis. “From Metallica’s most famous Black Album to Michael Bublé’s Christmas, he has produced some of the biggest albums of all time that continue to be evergreen, year in and year out.”

“Everyone who has worked with Bob knows he is a difference maker, which is why the artists he has produced end up making multiple albums with him, which are almost always their biggest successes. Bob is very special and as a fellow Canadian, it is a pleasure to welcome him and his incredible productions to the Hipgnosis family.”

“I put my heart and soul into these recordings, Bob Rock adds. “I know how much Merck loves music, so it was an easy deal to put together.”