Primary Wave Music Publishing has acquired a majority stake in the music publishing catalog of AWOLNATION songwriter and frontman, Aaron Bruno.
The deal encompasses some of Bruno’s biggest hits across his career including The Best, Run, and Not Your Fault, as well as the diamond certified hit single, Sail.
Released in 2010, Sail was the first single off the debut album, Megalithic Symphony. The single spent 79 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has over 600 million plays on Spotify alone.
Primary Wave says that the deal also gives Aaron Bruno marketing team and publishing infrastructure, which includes digital strategy, licensing, synch opportunities as well as film, television, and theatrical production.
Sail has achieved Diamond status (10 million) and holds the record for the most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart by an independent artist, the second longest for any artist.
The debut album also produced the Gold certified Not Your Fault and two other Top 10 US singles.
AWOLNATION released the sophomore album Run in 2015 and 2018’s follow up Here Come The Runts. Across the span of four albums, AWOLNATION has notched seven Top 5 Alternative Radio hits, including multiples No.1’s, and has accumulated millions of sales, downloads and over 1.5 billion streams globally.
The band’s fourth full-length album, ANGEL MINERS & THE LIGHTNING RIDERS, featuring the hit single The Best was released on April 24 2020, and also features collaborations with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer and Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.
“It’s exciting to have these songs join a class of iconic artists and catalogs that call Primary Wave home.”
Aaron Bruno
“It’s exciting to have these songs join a class of iconic artists and catalogs that call Primary Wave home,” said Aaron Bruno.
“I’m thrilled to be partnering with them and to begin working with their team.”
“We look forward to partnering with Aaron and his management to take his career to even greater heights.”
David Weitzman, Primary Wave
Primary Wave Music’s David Weitzman added: “We are pleased to welcome Aaron Bruno to the Primary Wave family. His triple threat talent & vision as a songwriter, producer, and artist are undeniable.
“We look forward to partnering with Aaron and his management to take his career to even greater heights.”
On June 11, Primary Wave Music announced that it had finalized what it calls a “strategic relationship” with funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.
Oaktree Capital has committed to invest up to $375 million into Primary Wave Music in exchange for a minority interest in the music company.
Primary Wave has raised over $800m in the past four years via two IP funds: a $300m fund in 2016, backed by Black Rock, and a further $500m-plus fund launched last year.
Primary Wave also owns substantial interests in the song catalogs of icons such as Ray Charles, Bob Marley, Whitney Houston, Burt Bacharach, Smokey Robinson, the Four Seasons, and Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks.Music Business Worldwide
