Britney Spears Sells Entire Music Catalogue to Primary Wave
Pop icon Britney Spears has sold the rights to her entire music catalogue, transferring her ownership stake in a string of global hits to music publishing company Primary Wave.
The deal gives Primary Wave control over Spears’ share of songs including Baby One More Time, Oops! I Did It Again, Lucky and I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman, among others.
According to TMZ, the transaction was finalised on 30 December. The financial terms were not disclosed, but a source told the outlet the agreement was comparable in value to Justin Bieber’s reported US$200 million deal to sell his back catalogue to Hipgnosis Songs Capital in 2023.
Primary Wave has increasingly positioned itself as a major player in acquiring high-profile music catalogues. Rolling Stone reports the company has secured deals with some of the industry’s most influential artists and estates.
In March last year, Primary Wave purchased a 50 per cent stake in The Notorious B.I.G.’s estate. It has also acquired rights connected to the estates of Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Prince and Cars frontman Ric Ocasek. In 2020, Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks sold her publishing rights to the company.
Such catalogue sales have become a lucrative option for artists, offering large upfront payments while reducing the long-term administrative burden of managing music rights.
Spears, one of the most commercially successful pop stars of her generation, has not released a studio album since Glory in 2016. She was released from a highly publicised 13-year conservatorship in 2021.
Earlier this year, Spears announced she would no longer perform in the United States. In a January Instagram post, she wrote that she would “never perform in the US again because of extremely sensitive reasons,” while expressing hope of performing in the future in the UK and Australia alongside her son.
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