Primary Wave Music has acquired again. MBW can reveal today (May 5) that the company has bought the publishing catalog of songwriters and producers Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers, who discovered superstar Rihanna.
In what Primary Wave describes as a “multi million dollar deal”, the acquisition will also see the publisher obtain a share in the duo’s master royalty income stream across Rihanna’s first seven albums.
The deal encompasses master income for some of Rihanna’s biggest hits including We Found Love, Umbrella, Don’t Stop the Music, Disturbia, Stay, Rude Boy, and What’s My Name.
In addition, the deal includes the duo’s share of publishing on Rihanna’s award-winning single Shut Up and Drive, as well as her debut single and worldwide smash hit, Pon De Replay.
That single was also one of three songs included on Rihanna’s demo tape sent to record labels, ultimately landing her a contract with Def Jam.
Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers’ music publishing catalog also includes some of their biggest hits across their decades in music which includes over 20 Top 40 hits and 12 Top 5 hits.
They have written, co-written and produced songs for some of the biggest names in music, selling more than 70 million albums around the world.
Their shares of publishing on Kelly Clarkson’s The Trouble With Love Is, N’Sync’s (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time On You, 5 Seconds of Summer’s award-winning single Teeth and many others are all included in the deal.
Today’s news follows a string of acquisition deals announced by Primary Wave in recent months.
In April, the company struck a catalog acquisition deal with Grammy-nominated songwriter, producer, and longtime Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard.
At the end of March, Primary Wave acquired the worldwide income and future distribution rights in all existing master recordings from The Piano Guys (Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, Al van der Beek).
Also in March, the company bought a majority stake in the music publishing catalog of British ’90s R&B star Mark Morrison.
In February, Primary Wave struck an acquisition deal with Wilson Phillips members Chynna Phillips and Carnie Wilson.
Primary Wave also acquired the legendary recording company Sun Records in January.
“We feel that Primary Wave will be fantastic caretakers of our catalog and will keep our songs alive for generations to come.”
Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken
“We feel that Primary Wave will be fantastic caretakers of our catalog and will keep our songs alive for generations to come.” – Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken
“We are proud and excited to acquire this incredible catalog of works.”
Justin Shukat, Primary Wave Music
Justin Shukat, President at Primary Wave Music, added: “Sturken and Rogers career spans decades of creating top hits and when they discovered and signed Rihanna in 2005 it solidified their place in pop music history as she has proven be one of the world’s biggest stars.
“We are proud and excited to acquire this incredible catalog of works.”
“From our first call, we knew Evan and Carl would be a perfect fit for Primary Wave.”
Matt Herzfeld, Primary Wave Music
Matt Herzfeld, Senior Director A&R and Catalogue Acquisition at Primary Wave Music added: “From our first call, we knew Evan and Carl would be a perfect fit for Primary Wave.
“Their legacy of discovering and nurturing world-class talent like Rihanna is the reason why so many of us go into this business and we are beyond excited to help share their story and music.”
Starting their careers in the New York City R&B scene of the early 80’s, Sturken and Rogers worked on the Beat Street soundtrack and began to gain a reputation by producing such artists as Cheryl Lynn, Stephanie Mills and Jennifer Holiday.
They then crossed over to the pop world by working on the comeback of Donny Osmond, with the Top 5 smash Soldier of Love.
In 1991 they became artists themselves, and as Rhythm Syndicate they scored a No.1 hit, P.A.S.S.I.O.N., as well as a Top 10 follow-up with Hey Donna.
After two years of touring and promotion, Sturken and Rogers disbanded the group to resume writing and producing full-time.
Success came next in the UK with the Top 5 hit Power of a Woman for Eternal. More work overseas followed, including contributions to the Brand New Heavies platinum album Shelter, as well as writing and producing songs for Boyzone’s 5X platinum album Where We Belong.
In 1997, they worked on the mega-hit God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You for N’Sync, which also became a Top 5 smash on the country charts when the supergroup Alabama covered it.
The team also wrote and produced several songs for Christina Aguilera’s debut album, which entered the Billboard charts at No.1 and went double platinum in just three weeks.
They also branched out into the smooth jazz world, working with Dave Koz on eight albums over the last 30 years, including singles featuring Luther Vandross and Brian McKnight.
The duo also had songs on 98 Degrees’ double platinum album, Revelation and the multi-platinum debut albums of Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore and Anastacia, as well as collaborations with such artists as Christina Milian and Emma ‘Baby Spice’ Bunton.
As the 90s came to a close, Sturken and Rogers discovered and developed Javier, whom they signed to Capitol Records, and who would later go on to win the first season of The Voice.
Clive Davis later hired them to work on Kelly Clarkson’s debut album, for which they wrote the hit single The Trouble With Love Is, which ended up being featured in the movie Love Actually .
The Davis connection continued with the American Idol project in 2004, as well as Ruben Studdard, and Rod Stewart’s Great American Song Book Vol. 11.
The duo then decided to begin developing their own artists, forming Syndicated Rhythm Productions in 2005.
Their first signing was 16-year-old Robyn Rihanna Fenty, whom Rogers discovered while visiting his wife’s family in Barbados.
They brought her to Jay-Z and L.A. Reid at Def Jam, and she was said to have been signed within hours of her audition.
Rihanna’s first single Pon De Replay, co-penned and produced by Sturken and Rogers, went on to be a worldwide smash, and she has gone on to become one the most successful music artists of all time, selling over 250 million albums worldwide, as well as 14 No.1s and 31 Top 10 singles in the US alone.
The SRP artist roster continued to grow during this time. Next up was Shontelle, who they brought to Steve Rifkind’s SRC/Universal Motown label, resulting in two platinum singles.
Sturken and Rogers continued writing and producing for artists outside of their own stable, and with their song Issues they scored another hit with UK girl group The Saturdays.
They also co-wrote the song Gypsy for Shakira, which was an international hit and earned them their sixth BMI award.Music Business Worldwide