Author: JD

$150m Deal Involves Combined Marketing, A&R and Artist Services, While BMG Acquires an Interest in Some Classic Catalogs BMG and Primary Wave are going into business together. The two companies confirmed on Sunday evening (9/2) that they’ve entered into a $150m strategic alliance. The deal involves Primary Wave marketing BMG/Primary Wave’s future record releases in the U.S., while BMG purchases significant rights in Primary Wave’s music publishing assets. Among the assets being acquired are classics from Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire), Hall & Oates, Marvin Gaye and John Lennon (you know, that band). Meanwhile, Primary Wave, whose interests continue to include music publishing, management, marketing and TV development, will partner with BMG to create a new joint venture, BMG/Primary Wave Artist Services, which will focus on signing artists who already have a track record in the industry. Primary Wave’s in-house marketing team, which includes resources such as brand marketing, digital marketing, product management, press and TV/film development, will act as the marketing arm for the artists signed to BMG/Primary Wave Artist Services. All such projects will be signed to BMG’s Artist Services model, under which the artist retains ownership of their copyrights and BMG provides funding and administration including royalties and accounting, synch and back-office services. Primary Wave Music’s current business structure and team will have little change internally, but the JV will add radio promotion capabilities to Primary Wave’s creative team.  And while BMG will acquire significant rights in the indie pubco’s catalogs, Primary Wave’s marketing team will continue to be involved in marketing those catalogs. The deal will also combine the forces of BMG and Primary Wave to sign and develop new writers and administer publishing catalogs. Said BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch: “The U.S. remains the heartland of and biggest single market in the worldwide music industry. This strategic alliance with Primary Wave, one of the most respected independents in the business, gives us control of some of the greatest copyrights in popular music in one stroke, while also strengthening our marketing resources in promoting new recordings. And from the writer’s perspective, we are confident this deal will open up many new opportunities for the international exploitation of these iconic songs through our pro-active BMG team.” “I’m very happy to be partnering with BMG and Hartwig Masuch,” Primary Wave founder and CEOLarry Mestel wrote in an email. “Our entire Primary Wave team is looking forward to expanding our portfolio of artist-driven businesses by reinvesting capital into those businesses and continuing our successful partnership with HITS.”