{"id":210397,"date":"2024-09-06T12:50:46","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T11:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=210397"},"modified":"2024-09-06T13:08:42","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T12:08:42","slug":"primary-wave-strikes-multi-million-dollar-publishing-deal-with-estate-of-the-cars-frontman-ric-ocasek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/primary-wave-strikes-multi-million-dollar-publishing-deal-with-estate-of-the-cars-frontman-ric-ocasek\/","title":{"rendered":"Primary Wave strikes \u2018multi-million-dollar\u2019 publishing deal with estate of The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music publisher Primary Wave has struck a \u201cmulti-million-dollar\u201d partnership with the estate of Ric Ocasek, the frontman of 80s new wave band The Cars, perhaps best known for their 1984 hit Drive<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The deal will see Primary Wave share in the rights of Ocasek\u2019s publishing catalog, including all of The Cars\u2019 songs, as well as Ocasek\u2019s solo career, according to a press release.<\/p>\n

According to the announcement, Primary Wave will also share in Ocasek\u2019s name and likeness rights, and his estate will gain access to the company\u2019s marketing team and publishing infrastructure, with an eye to new marketing, branding, digital, and sync opportunities, as well as film and TV projects.<\/p>\n

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Ocasek, who died in 2019, sold more than 20 million<\/strong> albums as part of The Cars and clocked 13 Top 40 hits on the Billboard charts. Ocasek wrote and performed lead vocals on Cars hits such as My Best Friend\u2019s Girl<\/em>, Let The Good Times Roll<\/em>, and Let\u2019s Go<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s 1978 track Just What I Needed<\/em> \u2013 the first single from their self-titled debut album \u2013 was included in Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s list of the \u201c500 Greatest Songs of All Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The band was nominated for a \u201cBest New Artist\u201d Grammy<\/strong> in 1979, one of six Grammy nominations they would receive. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/strong> in 2018 by Brandon Flowers<\/strong> of The Killers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey achieved greatness and left a comet trail behind them, writing and recording songs that have transcended into classics\u2026 Forty years later they still sound like a new band to me,\u201d Flowers said of the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an absolute honor to partner with the Estate of Ric Ocasek. His words, music and overall vision left such an indelible mark on the historical musical landscape.”<\/p>\n

Adam Lowenberg, Primary Wave<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Drive<\/em> was The Cars\u2019 highest charting single, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100<\/strong> and topping the Adult Contemporary<\/strong> chart. It was nominated for Grammy in the \u201cBest Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal\u201d category.<\/p>\n

Ocasek also worked as a producer for a number of prominent bands including Weezer<\/strong>, Bad Religion<\/strong>, Nada Surf<\/strong> and No Doubt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an absolute honor to partner with the estate of Ric Ocasek. His words, music and overall vision left such an indelible mark on the historical musical landscape,\u201d Primary Wave’s Chief Marketing Officer, Adam Lowenberg<\/strong>, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot imagine my own youth without the songs of Ric Ocasek. We are so eager to begin creating new opportunities to introduce Ric\u2019s world to a whole new audience.”<\/p>\n

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Primary Wave has been on an acquisition spree of late, powered by a $2-billion<\/strong> partnership<\/a> with Brookfield Asset Management<\/strong> in 2022, which saw the firm take a minority stake in the New York-headquartered music publisher founded and led by Larry Mestel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In just the past year, Primary Wave acquired the catalog of Nuno Bettencourt<\/a><\/strong> of 90s rock band Extreme<\/strong>; inked a publishing partnership<\/a> with alt-rock band The Spin Doctors<\/strong>; and signed a music rights deal<\/a> with Neil Finn<\/strong> of Crowded House<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The company also struck a deal<\/a> for the recorded, publishing, brand and name and likeness rights of The Village People<\/strong> of YMCA<\/em> fame; a catalog deal<\/a> with the estate of songwriter and musician P.F. Sloan<\/strong>; and a stake in the catalog<\/a> of singer\/songwriter Neil Sedaka<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ocasek sold more than 20 million albums as part of The Cars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":210399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[233,82785],"class_list":["post-210397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-primary-wave","tag-ric-ocasek"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}