Kenny MacPherson, Big Deal Publishing Co-Founder and Former Hipgnosis CEO, Dies at 71

Kenny MacPherson, a veteran publishing executive and artist manager who co-founded Big Deal Music Group, was formerly CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Group and worked with such acts as Radiohead, Supertramp, Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket, the Blue Nile, St. Vincent and others, died on Friday in Los Angeles, according to Hits and other media reports. No cause of death was announced; he was 71.

A native of Scotland, MacPherson began his career working at Glasgow’s legendary Apollo Theatre and eventually became its manager. That role led to a job in London with powerhouse promoter Harvey Goldsmith Entertainment, one of whose acts, the Manhattan Transfer, hired him and brought him to of Los Angeles. He then managed the British group Supertramp and branched into publishing.

In 1989, he joined Warner/Chappell publishing, and over the course of the next decade-plus he signed or worked closely with Radiohead, Underworld, Paul Westerberg, Afghan Whigs and the Blue Nile and many others.

He was named president of Chrysalis’ North American operation in 2002 and worked closely with such acts as Outkast, Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, St. Vincent, Thom Yorke, TV on the Radio and others. He moved over to BMG after it acquired Chrysalis in 2010, and two years later co-founded Big Deal Music, bringing many of the above-named artists with him. However, his career was marred by a lawsuit in 2023, when a former Chrysalis employee sued him for sexual misconduct; a mediation was scheduled for next month.

Big Deal was acquired by — and effectively merged with — Hipgnosis Songs Group in 2020, with MacPherson named CEO; that company was acquired by Sony Music in 2025. MacPherson launched the fittingly named Oh Aye Music in 2021.