The music rights acquisition space in 2023 is hotting up.
Earlier today (January 23) we reported that Warner Music Group has struck a “milestone deal” with legendary British progressive rock band YES to acquire the recorded music rights and income streams from the band’s “complete” Atlantic Records era catalog.
Now, Primary Wave Music has announced that it has acquired the music rights of Robby Krieger and the late Ray Manzarek of legendary US rock band, The Doors.
Primary Wave says that the “monumental acquisition” includes Robby Krieger and the estate of Ray Manzarek’s interests in The Doors’ music publishing catalog, recordings, trademarks, and merchandise rights and income, among other things.
The price of the deal with Primary Wave has not been disclosed.
The Jim Morrison entities and the band’s drummer John Densmore retain their interests separately from Primary Wave.
This deal brings to Primary Wave The Doors’ hits across six studio albums.
Following Jim Morrison’s tragic death, Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek released two more albums as The Doors, Other Voices and Full Circle, and lastly the Grammy-nominated album An American Prayer in 1978, which coupled Morrison’s spoken word recordings with new music by the remaining Doors.
Songs include their first single off their breakthrough self-titled debut album, Break on Through (To the Other Side) and the band’s No.1 hit Light My Fire.
Other classic recordings include Hello, I Love You,People Are Strange,Riders on the Storm, as well as L.A. Woman.
Primary Waves says that its marketing, digital strategy, branding, licensing, and synch teams will work closely with The Doors’ manager Jeff Jampol (Jampol Artist Management, Inc.) to help drive opportunities across this rich catalog of music.
Formed in Los Angeles in 1965, The Doors sold over 35 million albums in the US alone and over 100 million worldwide.
With 10 Gold, 14 Platinum, 4 Multi-Platinum, and 1 Diamond award in the States, they are considered one of the best-selling bands of all time.
“The Doors are one of the most legendary rock bands of all time. We are looking forward to growing the legacies of Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek.”
“The Doors are one of the most legendary rock bands of all time. We are looking forward to growing the legacies of Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek,” said Larry Mestel, CEO & Founder of Primary Wave Music.
“We are also very happy to be working alongside such an industry icon as Jeff Jampol to tastefully grow opportunities for The Doors.”
“After 58 years, and the most magical of times, I’ve decided to sell my share of The Doors to Primary Wave.”
Robby Krieger
Robby Krieger said: “After 58 years, and the most magical of times, I’ve decided to sell my share of The Doors to Primary Wave.”
“This will enable me to help the many charities I’ve been involved with, and some new ones too. I know Primary Wave cares about music, art, and about helping legacies go to even bigger levels.
“Our longtime Doors manager Jeff Jampol will still be protecting our legacy in partnership with Primary Wave, so I’m comfortable and happy with the future of The Doors.”
“Our family has worked patiently to find the right partners to continue Ray’s lifelong efforts in protecting and promoting his art, and now we are happy to have finally come to an agreement with Primary Wave.”
Dorothy Manzarek
Dorothy Manzarek, said: “Ray and I spent a lot of time discussing the future of The Doors’ legacy, and how to handle things after he departed this plane.
“Our family has worked patiently to find the right partners to continue Ray’s lifelong efforts in protecting and promoting his art, and now we are happy to have finally come to an agreement with Primary Wave.
“Under the continued guidance of our manager, Jeff Jampol, Primary Wave will be the right partners in this endeavor to build future generations of new Doors fans.
In November, Primary Wave acquired copyrights to hit Whitney Houston songs as part of a deal for about 60 songs written by songwriters Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill, of American pop-music duo Boy Meets Girl.
The purchase of rights to Houston’s hit songs as part of Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill’s catalog followed Primary Wave’s $2 billion deal with financial giant Brookfield in October.
The deal included the acquisition of a minority stake in Primary Wave and Brookfield investing $1.7 billion into a new “permanent capital vehicle”.
As MBWreported in October, Primary Wave still has a little over $1 billion in unspent Brookfield investment after an initial $700 million was spent acquiring some rights from Primary Wave’s Fund 1 and Fund 2.
(Fund 3 was born in 2021. MBW’s sources suggest it was backed with $800 million in capital. The launch of Fund 3 coincided with a $375 million investment into Primary Wave by Oaktree Capital.)
The new “permanent capital vehicle” is essentially a fourth fund – in which Primary Wave itself is a minority owner.Music Business Worldwide
