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Primary Wave
Company typePrivate
IndustryMusic and entertainment
GenreVarious
Founded2006; 18 years ago (2006), in the United States
FounderLawrence Mestel
HeadquartersNew York City,
New York
,
U.S.
Number of locations
Austin
Los Angeles
Nashville
New York City
London
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Lawrence Mestel (CEO)
Adam Lowenberg (CMO)
Ramon Villa (COO)
Justin Shukat[1]
Robert Dippold[2]
Jane Reisman (CFO)[3]
Jeff Straughn[4]
Natalia Nastaskin[5]
Services
Number of employees
75
Subsidiaries
  • Brightshop Digital Marketing
  • Brand Synergy Group
Websiteprimarywave.com Edit this at Wikidata

Primary Wave is a privately held music publishing and talent management company. Primary Wave was founded in January 2006 by music executive Lawrence Mestel. Since its origin as a music publishing and administration company, Primary Wave has expanded into talent management, film and TV production, digital marketing, and branding. Primary Wave owns a significant song catalog, with major acquisitions beginning in 2016, including several hundred #1 hits.[6]

History

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2006–2015: Early years

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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.[7] The Nirvana purchase would eventually galvanize Primary Wave's acquisitions of Chicago, Albert Hammond Jr., Bo Diddley, Steven Tyler, John Lennon, Lamont Dozier, Hall & Oates, Def Leppard, and Maurice White's (of Earth, Wind & Fire) publishing catalogs.[8]

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.[9] The joint venture ended in 2016, though BMG kept the catalogues that it acquired from Primary Wave.[10]

2016–present: Acquisitions

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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.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13]

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.[14] That same month, Primary Wave closed a marketing and publishing administration deal with Alice Cooper.[15] 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.[16]

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.[17]

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.[18] 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.[19]

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.[20] 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".[21]

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.[22][23] 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.[22] 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.[24]

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.[25]

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.[26]

Divisions

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Division Formed Description
Primary Wave Music Publishing 2006 Primary Wave Music Publishing (PWMP) is an independent, private music publisher who began with the acquisition of catalogs by Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), and John Lennon (The Beatles/John Lennon).
Primary Wave Talent Management 2006 Primary Wave Talent Management (PWTM) works with music, film, TV, and entertainment personalities including Melissa Etheridge, Cypress Hill, CeeLo Green, Aly & AJ, Skillet, and Plain White T's.
Brand Synergy Group 2011 Brand Synergy Group (BSG) is a lifestyle consulting company that connects brands with entertainment, music, sports, and culinary personalities.
BrightShop Digital Marketing 2010 BrightShop is a digital marketing agency specializing in social, mobile, web, and streaming services. Acting as Primary Wave's in-house digital agency, BrightShop also services music, celebrity, and lifestyle brands.[27][28][29]

References

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  1. ^ 40 Under 40: Music's Young Power Players at Billboard.com; published September 12, 2014; retrieved February 27, 2020
  2. ^ Billboard's 2019 Digital Power Players Revealed at Billboard.com; published November 18, 2019; retrieved February 27, 2020
  3. ^ Jane Reisman Joins Primary Wave Publishing as CFO at Billboard.com; by Chris Eggersten; published April 29, 2019; retrieved February 27, 2020
  4. ^ The Story Behind Clorox's Mystery Recording Artist CLRX at AdWeek.com; by Paul Hiebert; published February 25, 2020; retrieved February 27, 2020
  5. ^ 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". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  7. ^ "Smells Like New Revenue". Forbes. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
  8. ^ "Julian Lennon sells stake in Beatles songs: report". Reuters. Reuters Editorial. 13 April 2007.
  9. ^ "BMG in $150 Million Deal for Music Publishing Assets of U.S. Indie Primary Wave". The Hollywood Reporter. 3 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Top-Dollar Tunes: A Timeline of 21st Century Song Catalog Deals". Billboard. 30 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Primary Wave strikes deal to represent Alice Cooper publishing rights - Music Business Worldwide". musicbusinessworldwide.com. 23 January 2018.
  12. ^ "Primary Wave's CEO Explains a New $300 Million BlackRock Partnership, Getting Smokey Robinson a Sneaker Deal". billboard.com.
  13. ^ "Primary Wave Invest $5 Million in Joint Venture With Rough Trade Publishing". Variety. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  14. ^ Sisario, Ben (13 January 2018). "Buying a Piece of Bob Marley's Song Catalog, and His Enduring Legacy". The New York Times.
  15. ^ "Publishing Briefs: Alice Cooper Pairs With Primary Wave; UMPG Signs Country Hitmaker Josh Hoge". Billboard. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  16. ^ Primary Wave Buys Culture Club Catalog Stake in 'Multi-Million Dollar Deal' at Music Business Worldwide; published May 29, 2019; retrieved April 15, 2020
  17. ^ Wood, Mikael (2023-10-25). "At 89, Frankie Valli is ready for one last encore". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-10-26.
  18. ^ 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. ^ "Primary Wave buys legendary Sun Records in $30m deal, including masters for Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis". 28 January 2021.
  21. ^ "Primary Wave buys stake in Prince estate, encompassing publishing, master recording income and more". Music Business Worldwide. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-06.
  22. ^ a b Steele, Anne (2022-10-06). "Brookfield Bets $2 Billion on Music in Deal With Primary Wave". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  23. ^ Aswad, Jem (2022-10-06). "Primary Wave Music Strikes $2 Billion Deal With Brookfield to Invest in Music Copyrights". Variety. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  24. ^ Steele, Anne (2023-04-25). "WSJ News Exclusive | Prince, Stevie Nicks Music Investor Bets on Bollywood". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  25. ^ "Primary Wave music has acquired the rights of the Doors' music publishing catalogue". Guitar.com. 2023-01-24. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  26. ^ "Primary Wave acquires catalog from Dennis DeYoung, founding member of rock band Styx". Music Business Worldwide. 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  27. ^ As Seen On TV selects BrightShop Digital to handle social media marketing at DMNews.com; by Erin Dostal; published July 30, 2012; retrieved March 3, 2020
  28. ^ Primary Wave and Violator Management Forge Music Management Partnership at Deadline; by David Lieberman; published September 16, 2011; retrieved March 3, 2020
  29. ^ Primary Wave Acquires Rough Trade Publishing Stake in $5M+ Financing Deal at Music Buesiness Worldwide; published April 28, 2017; retrieved March 3, 2020
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