Britney Spears (44), the 1990s teen pop superstar, caused a stir after reports surfaced that she had sold the rights to her entire music catalog for a staggering sum.
According to BBC.com, the deal is set to close on December 30, 2025. It’s no small matter—Spears is expected to pocket up to 200 million U.S. dollars from the buyer, the publisher Primary Wave.
Recently, as also reported by BBC.com, renowned artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, and Shakira have also sold their catalogs to different parties.
Springsteen sold his song catalog to Sony in 2021 for 500 million US dollars. Meanwhile, Bieber reportedly signed a deal worth 200 million US dollars with Hipgnosis Songs Capital in 2023.
The company Primary Wave was founded two decades ago by music executive Lawrence Mestel after purchasing a 50 percent stake in Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana catalog. They are also very active in reworking the copyrights they acquired.
They seek ways to revitalize the music they’ve invested in, such as by hosting numerous “flip camps” where songwriters can sample and interpolate old songs to create new hits.
Additionally, Primary Wave produced a biographical film (biopic) about the life of the late global pop diva, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, in 2022.
Previously, her autobiography, titled The Woman In Me, also flew off the shelves like hotcakes. The memoir sold as many as 1.1 million copies in its first week of release alone back in 2023.
In the book, Spears details how every aspect of her life was controlled by others. Major Hollywood studio Universal Pictures has also announced its interest in adapting it into a film after successfully securing the rights to do so.
Britney is adored by her fans for her hit songs such as “Baby One More Time,” “Oops!… I Did It Again,” “Toxic,” and “Gimme More.” In early January 2024, Spears made a shocking statement regarding her music career.
Just so we’re all clear, most of that news is garbage!!!
At the time, she vowed she would never return to the industry that had made her a megastar. Through her official social media account, Spears also denied reports that she was currently seeking songwriters for her 10th studio album.
“Just so we’re all clear, most of that news is garbage!!! They keep saying I’m turning to random people to make a new album… I will never return to the music industry!!!” she wrote in an emotional tone.
Even so, she takes pride in the fact that she’s still creating music by writing at least 20 songs for others over the past two years. Spears really enjoys her role as a ghostwriter like that.
Spears has long been known as one of the world’s best-selling female pop artists, with over 150 million records sold worldwide. Her catalog includes nine studio albums since her debut in 1999.
Neither Spears’ representatives nor a spokesperson for Primary Wave immediately responded to requests for comment. As such, it remains unclear exactly what rights Primary Wave has acquired.
Sony Music is known to own and control the rights to Spears’ recording catalog. The singer is also understood not to be the songwriter for most of her hit songs. This means that the majority of her most valuable rights stem from the recordings themselves.
Under U.S. law, a song has two distinct types of copyrights that generate royalties for different parties. Music publishing royalties are tied to the song’s composition and lyrics, while recording royalties stem from the recording itself.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Primary Wave is one of the most well-known companies in the field of catalog acquisitions. They have purchased catalogs from major artists, such as the estates of the late Prince and Whitney Houston.
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