Music as an Investment – Part 3: Primary Wave

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Primary Wave is a new type of music publisher founded in New York City in January 2006 by former Virgin Records CEO, Larry Mestel. Primary Wave does not aim at the acquisition and exploitation of classical publishing rights, but instead purchases the artist’s share of publishing rights and master rights, primarily to monetise their use in TV, film and advertising (synchronisation rights to musical works). Part 3 of the series “Music as an Investment” analyses Primary Wave’s rise to one of the most influential players in the international music rights market.

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Music as an Investment – Part 1: An Overview

Until a few years ago, music publishing was considered to be a rather boring business field in which music rights are acquired and licensed for various uses. This business model has not principally changed, but music rights have become a speculative investment in recent years, when new players such as Hipgnosis, Primary Wave and Round Hill entered the market with spectacular music catalogue acquisitions in the multi-digit million range.

This blog entry traces the development of the music rights market and the most important players in recent years and is the introduction to a multi-part blog series on “Music as an Investment”.