Buying a Piece of Bob Marley’s Song Catalog, and His Enduring Legacy
- 6 years ago
Buying a Piece of Bob Marley’s Song Catalog, and His Enduring Legacy
While the family of Marley, who died in 1981 at 36, handles most aspects of his estate, Mr. Blackwell controls the rights to Marley’s music publishing catalog, including the copyrights to classic reggae songs like “One Love”
and “Three Little Birds.” On Saturday Mr. Blackwell signed a $50 million deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing, a boutique New York music company, the latest in a string of high-profile transactions reflecting how streaming has boosted the value of music catalogs.
For Mr. Robinson, who signed a $22 million deal with Primary Wave in 2016, the company did a deal with American Greetings to promote a new holiday, Father-Daughter
Day, using Mr. Robinson’s song “My Girl.” When he was looking for a new home for his songs, Mr. Robinson said in an interview, those ideas sold him
Primary Wave has carved out a lucrative niche in music publishing by focusing on aggressive branding and marketing campaigns for what its founder, Larry Mestel, calls “the icons and legends business.” The company has a relatively small catalog of about 12,000 songs — its roster includes Smokey Robinson, Def Leppard and Steve Cropper, who wrote “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” with Otis Redding —
that it promotes heavily through commercial tie-ins, movies and TV shows.
“There isn’t a crevice of the world,” Mr. Mestel said, “where Bob Marley isn’t a god.”
Unlike most publishers, Primary Wave sees itself as a branding house
and an asset manager, exploiting song catalogs on behalf of investors that have contributed to an acquisition fund.
While the family of Marley, who died in 1981 at 36, handles most aspects of his estate, Mr. Blackwell controls the rights to Marley’s music publishing catalog, including the copyrights to classic reggae songs like “One Love”
and “Three Little Birds.” On Saturday Mr. Blackwell signed a $50 million deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing, a boutique New York music company, the latest in a string of high-profile transactions reflecting how streaming has boosted the value of music catalogs.
For Mr. Robinson, who signed a $22 million deal with Primary Wave in 2016, the company did a deal with American Greetings to promote a new holiday, Father-Daughter
Day, using Mr. Robinson’s song “My Girl.” When he was looking for a new home for his songs, Mr. Robinson said in an interview, those ideas sold him
Primary Wave has carved out a lucrative niche in music publishing by focusing on aggressive branding and marketing campaigns for what its founder, Larry Mestel, calls “the icons and legends business.” The company has a relatively small catalog of about 12,000 songs — its roster includes Smokey Robinson, Def Leppard and Steve Cropper, who wrote “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” with Otis Redding —
that it promotes heavily through commercial tie-ins, movies and TV shows.
“There isn’t a crevice of the world,” Mr. Mestel said, “where Bob Marley isn’t a god.”
Unlike most publishers, Primary Wave sees itself as a branding house
and an asset manager, exploiting song catalogs on behalf of investors that have contributed to an acquisition fund.