BMG has entered into a strategic alliance with Primary Wave Music, one of the largest and most successful independent music companies in the US, which will involve Primary Wave marketing BMG/Primary Wave’s future new record releases in the US and BMG buying significant rights in Primary Wave’s music publishing assets.
The purchase will see BMG acquiring an interest in timeless songs such as Earth Wind & Fire’s ‘September’, Hall & Oates ‘Kiss On My List’, John Lennon’s ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘How Sweet it is’.
Meanwhile Primary Wave, whose interests continue to include music publishing, talent management, marketing and television development, will partner with BMG to create a new joint venture, BMG/Primary Wave Artist Services, which will focus on signing recording artists who already have a track record in the industry. Primary Wave’s current, 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 proven Artist Services model under which the artist retains ownership of their copyrights and BMG provides funding, and administration including royalties and accounting, synch, as well as back office services. Primary Wave Music’s current business structure and team will have little change internally; however, the venture will add radio promotion capabilities to Primary Wave’s creative team.
In addition to this new venture in recorded music, BMG and Primary Wave Music will maintain strong links in music publishing. While BMG will acquire significant rights in the independent music publisher’s legendary music 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 catalogues.
BMG’s CEO, Hartwig Masuch, said “The US 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.”
Larry Mestel, Founder & CEO of Primary Wave Music, said, “Having worked closely with the old BMG and Bertelsmann in the past while at Arista Records, I’m looking forward to rekindling that strong working relationship and leveraging our various resources and strengths to create a powerhouse partnership that will give artists a refreshing alternative in the industry.”
The deal allows Primary Wave to apply even more resources and manpower into their other growing, in-house departments including their talent management division, digital marketing team BrightShop, brand marketing company Brand Synergy Group, and Primary Wave TV, the TV/Film production & development team. Primary Wave’s current business structure is set up so that all artists that sign to management or publishing, and now also BMG / PW Artist Services, are able to tap into the various in-house resources without having to retain a 3rd party marketer. Currently, Primary Wave manages artists such as Grammy Award winner CeeLo Green, Eric Benet, Neon Hitch, Natalie Imbruglia, Cris Cab, Ginuwine, Trevor Jackson, Goodie Mob as well as many other bands, and writers & producers. In addition to talent management, another department eager to grow is Primary Wave TV, which recently sold their first TV show that is currently being filmed for TBS Network and features management clients CeeLo Green and Goodie Mob.
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