It’s been a busy year for Primary Wave Music Publishing.
In January it acquired a stake in the publishing catalogue of Bob Marley as part of a $50 million deal with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.
At the time, Primary Wave CEO and founder Larry Mestel said that the company had around $400m to invest in music on behalf of investors including BlackRock.
In April, Mestel told MBW that the company was ready to “pay significant sums for the right deals”, and that Primary Wave would “always do best with artists who want their legacies properly valued and creatively marketed”.
Mestel also said: “We have very significant funds and we don’t plan on running out of capital.”
Now, some months later, true to its word, the company has announced three big deals for the catalogues of legacy artists.
“We always do best with artists who want their legacies properly valued and creatively marketed.”
Larry Mestel, speaking in april 2018
Firstly, it has acquired the entire music catalog of legendary jazz pianist and composer Count Basie for an undisclosed sum.
The Basie deal includes all copyrights and royalty streams of compositions written by Basie such as One O’clock Jump and Jumpin’ At The Woodside, as well as royalty streams for all masters he recorded including April in Paris and Georgia On My Mind.
It’s also entered into a long-term strategic partnership with British record producer and songwriter Pete Waterman, which encompasses much of his extensive catalog including three of his biggest hits, Never Gonna Give You Up, Together Forever (written for Rick Astley), as well as I Should Be So Lucky (written for Kylie Minogue).
Rounding off the new deals, Primary Wave will also now represent the music publishing catalog of the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist Kenny Loggins.
The deal will see the company represent Loggins’ most well-known hits such as Footloose, I’m Alright, Playing with the Boys, and What a Fool Believes.
Primary Wave will not only market his catalog of music, but also his name and likeness with its digital division handling all daily digital marketing activities to build awareness of Loggins’ music and overall business, including touring, e-commerce and other direct-to-fan initiatives.Music Business Worldwide
