The estate of The Notorious B.I.G. has sold a substantial portion of the late rapper's songbook to Primary Wave, a prominent music publishing firm that already holds the rights to numerous major artists' catalogs, including shares in those of various influential musicians. Kurt Cobain , John Lennon and Prince .
The firm verified the agreement with Biggie’s estate on Thursday but hasn’t shared any financial specifics. Nonetheless, earlier reports from The Hollywood Reporter indicated that the late rapper’s publishing rights could be valued at around $100 million (€92.3 million), with an additional potential sum of up to $50 million ($46.1 million) for his master recordings.
According to sources, half of these rights along with his name and image have been sold to Primary Wave by the estate.
This grants Primary Wave control over Biggie’s catalog, enabling them to license his music for movies, television shows, and explore various branding opportunities using his name and image rights.
Voletta Wallace, the rapper's mother, allegedly struck the deal with the company prior to her passing in late February.
One of the most prominent personalities in the East Coast rap scene, Biggie's debut album ' Ready to Die '(1994) is regarded as a classic within the genre. The artist, whose birth name was Christopher Wallace, was murdered in 1997 at only 24 years old, mere weeks before the release of his subsequent album 'Life After Death'.
Thanks to his mother's management of his estate, Biggie was able to release two albums after his death and saw his life story adapted into a biographical film. Notorious .
Biggie is merely the most recent among a series of artists who have sold their catalogs to various companies. Notably, electronic dance music producer Deadmau5 recently offloaded his catalog to Create Music Group for $55 million (€50.8 million).
One of the largest deals of this nature was Sony Music’s acquisition. Queen’s catalogue The British glam-rock group allegedly offloaded the rights to their music for $1.27 billion (€1.17 billion) in June 2024.
Other high-profile sales In 2021, Bruce Springsteen sold his entire catalog to Sony for approximately $500 million (€465 million). In 2022, Sony purchased Bob Dylan’s complete collection for €220 million and also obtained a 50 percent stake in Michael Jackson's music catalog for around $600 million (approximately €558 million).
0 Comments