Primary Wave (company)

History

2006–2015: Early years

Primary Wave Music Publishing was founded in 2006 after an introduction of Courtney Love to founder Lawrence Mestel, resulted in the purchase of 50% of Kurt Cobain's portion of the Nirvana catalog. The Nirvana purchase would eventually galvanize Primary Wave's acquisitions of Chicago, Albert Hammond Jr., Bo Diddley, Steven Tyler, John Lennon, Lamont Dozier,Def Leppard, and Maurice White's (of Earth, Wind & Fire) publishing catalogs.

In September 2013, Primary Wave and BMG Rights Management formed a joint venture for $150 million, with BMG buying a majority of Primary Wave's publishing, including "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles, "Kiss on My List" by Hall & Oates, "How Sweet It Is" by Marvin Gaye, and "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire. The joint venture ended in 2016, though BMG kept the catalogues that it acquired from Primary Wave.

2016–present: Acquisitions

Currently one of the largest indie music publishers in the United States, Primary Wave markets the copyrights of over 15,000 songs from the catalogs of various artists and songwriters.

The platform for a second phase of expansion was established in 2016, when Primary Wave received $300 million of funding from multiple large institutional investors, forming Primary Wave's first music-based fund. Primary Wave then purchased Smokey Robinson's catalogue for $25 million.

By 2017, Primary Wave acquired a stake in Rough Trade Publishing for $5 million and music catalogs such as Steve Cropper, Tom Cochrane, and Holly Knight.

In January 2018, Primary Wave acquired an 80 percent share in Chris Blackwell's Blue Mountain Music, one of the largest independent publishers, which included the rights to Bob Marley. The Blue Mountain Music acquisition also includes songs by Toots and the Maytals, Free, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, and Marianne Faithfull. That same month, Primary Wave closed a marketing and publishing administration deal with Alice Cooper. In May 2019, Primary Wave closed a reported multi-million-dollar deal with British band Culture Club, led by front man Boy George. The acquisition included a portion of the band's publishing and master recording income stream.

Primary Wave entered into a marketing and licensing agreement with the Four Seasons Partnership to promote the catalog of the 1960s/1970s pop rock band The Four Seasons. In accordance with Four Seasons Partnership policy, surviving original members Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio maintain ownership and final say over the catalog, with Gaudio maintaining an active coordination with Primary Wave, which a company representative noted was unusual compared to other bands.

Primary Wave announced an investment into Lava Media Group in September 2020. The new business relationship includes marketing and brand support from Primary Wave to support Lava's podcasts and also gives them access to Primary Wave's roster of talent. In November 2020, the Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) announced Primary Wave as the recipient of its 2020 Indie Publisher of the Year award.

On January 28, 2021, Primary Wave acquired the catalogue of the rock and roll label Sun Records for $30 million, including recordings by Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In August 2021, Primary Wave acquired a stake in Prince's music assets which include royalty streams from the songs "When You Were Mine," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "1999," "Little Red Corvette," and "When Doves Cry".

In October 2022, Primary Wave received a significant investment from the asset management firm Brookfield. The firm set up a $1.7 billion fund to purchase copyrights to music, while taking a minority ownership stake in Primary Wave. The partnership's first purchase was the copyrights to Joey Ramone's songwriting. Reporting in the Wall Street Journal on the deal also revealed that Primary Wave at the time held 50,000 song copyrights and had around 80 employees. Several months after the Brookfield deal, Primary Wave made a large investment in the Indian music business Times Music, which the companies said would result in a joint venture of over $100 million.

In January 2023, Primary Wave acquired the catalogue of The Doors, including the rights to all of the band's recordings, trademarks, merchandise rights, and income.

In August 2023, it was announced Primary Wave had acquired the music publishing catalog rights for the majority of compositions written by Dennis DeYoung - founding member of the band, Styx. The deal included master recording rights for a majority of recordings featuring DeYoung’s performances.

Primary Wave struck a marketing and licensing agreement with Neil Sedaka in 2024 as part of the singer's efforts to promote the 50th anniversary of his comeback albums of the 1970s. Sedaka commented that he would not be writing new material for Primary Wave, because he believed he was no longer the caliber of songwriter he was at his peak.

Divisions

References

References

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2. [https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8543390/2019-digital-power-players-list Billboard's 2019 Digital Power Players Revealed] at Billboard.com; published November 18, 2019; retrieved February 27, 2020
3. [https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8509333/jane-reisman-primary-wave-publishing-cfo Jane Reisman Joins Primary Wave Publishing as CFO] at Billboard.com; by Chris Eggersten; published April 29, 2019; retrieved February 27, 2020
4. [https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-story-behind-cloroxs-mystery-recording-artist-clrx/ The Story Behind Clorox's Mystery Recording Artist CLRX] at AdWeek.com; by Paul Hiebert; published February 25, 2020; retrieved February 27, 2020
5. [https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9510408/natalia-nastaskin-primary-wave-partner-chief-content-officer/ UTA's Natalia Nastaskin Heads to Primary Wave as Partner/Chief Content Officer: Exclusive] at Billboard; by Melinda Newman; published January 13, 2021; retrieved January 13, 2021
6. Dalugdug, Mandy. (2022-11-16). "Primary Wave buys Whitney Houston hits as part of deal with songwriters Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill".
7. (24 October 2006). "Smells Like New Revenue". Forbes.
8. (13 April 2007). "Julian Lennon sells stake in Beatles songs: report". Reuters.
9. (3 September 2013). "BMG in $150 Million Deal for Music Publishing Assets of U.S. Indie Primary Wave".
10. (30 November 2020). "Top-Dollar Tunes: A Timeline of 21st Century Song Catalog Deals".
11. (23 January 2018). "Primary Wave strikes deal to represent Alice Cooper publishing rights - Music Business Worldwide".
12. "Primary Wave's CEO Explains a New $300 Million BlackRock Partnership, Getting Smokey Robinson a Sneaker Deal".
13. (28 April 2017). "Primary Wave Invest $5 Million in Joint Venture With Rough Trade Publishing". Variety.
14. (13 January 2018). "Buying a Piece of Bob Marley's Song Catalog, and His Enduring Legacy". The New York Times.
15. (23 January 2018). "Publishing Briefs: Alice Cooper Pairs With Primary Wave; UMPG Signs Country Hitmaker Josh Hoge". Billboard.
16. [https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/primary-wave-buys-culture-club-catalog-stake-in-multi-million-dollar-deal/ Primary Wave Buys Culture Club Catalog Stake in 'Multi-Million Dollar Deal'] at Music Business Worldwide; published May 29, 2019; retrieved April 15, 2020
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18. [https://moneyforlunch.com/primary-wave-music-publishing-and-lava-media-announce-partnership/ Primary Wave Music Publishing and Lava Media Announce Partnership] at Money For Lunch; published 2020; retrieved November 1, 2020
19. "Aimp L.a.'s Holiday Spirit".
20. (28 January 2021). "Primary Wave buys legendary Sun Records in $30m deal, including masters for Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis".
21. (6 August 2021). "Primary Wave buys stake in Prince estate, encompassing publishing, master recording income and more". Music Business Worldwide.
22. Steele, Anne. (2022-10-06). "Brookfield Bets $2 Billion on Music in Deal With Primary Wave". Wall Street Journal.
23. Aswad, Jem. (2022-10-06). "Primary Wave Music Strikes $2 Billion Deal With Brookfield to Invest in Music Copyrights".
24. Steele, Anne. (2023-04-25). "WSJ News Exclusive {{!}} Prince, Stevie Nicks Music Investor Bets on Bollywood". Wall Street Journal.
25. (2023-01-24). "Primary Wave music has acquired the rights of the Doors' music publishing catalogue".
26. (2023-08-17). "Primary Wave acquires catalog from Dennis DeYoung, founding member of rock band Styx".
27. Mehr, Bob. (2025-07-01). "Neil Sedaka Executed One of Pop’s Great Comebacks. Now, He Just Plays.". The New York Times.
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29. [https://deadline.com/2011/09/primary-wave-and-violator-management-forge-music-management-partnership-172126/ Primary Wave and Violator Management Forge Music Management Partnership] at Deadline; by David Lieberman; published September 16, 2011; retrieved March 3, 2020
30. [https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/primary-wave-acquires-rough-trade-publishing-stake-in-5m-financing-deal/ Primary Wave Acquires Rough Trade Publishing Stake in $5M+ Financing Deal] at Music Buesiness Worldwide; published April 28, 2017; retrieved March 3, 2020