Primary Wave, which has been on a songwriter acquisition binge all year, is rounding out 2020 by purchasing a stake in Leo Sayer’s publishing catalog and master recordings, which includes his hits “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” and “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance),” as well as the Cliff Richard-sung “Dreamin’.”
The deal covers a stake in both publisher’s and writer’s share for post-1993 songs, and writer’s share for songs written prior to that year; while the master recording stake is a share in the royalty income stream paid to Sayer from the various labels he recorded for.
As part of the Primary Wave business model, the deal comes with the firm’s marketing team and publishing infrastructure to help promote the artist’s/songwriter’s catalog and master recordings.
In acknowledging that he was thrilled to enter the new partnership, Sayer added in a statement, “At 72, my creative activities and ambitions remain undimmed, so I’m sure that together we’ll achieve and create even more success globally, not only with the music I’ve already made, but also with all the ideas still to come.”
In fact, Sayer, who lives in Australia, has worked in Australian TV, film and radio, while also touring regularly back in Europe. In 2015, he released Restless Years, a collection of new material, followed by a completely self-recorded album, the aptly titled Selfie, in 2019. Sayer’s song catalog has sold 750,000 track downloads in the U.S., since the advent of MRC Data.
“We are thrilled to begin this partnership with the incredibly talented and legendary songwriter Leo Sayer,” Primary Wave chief marketing officer Adam Lowenberg said in a statement. “Personally, I am a huge fan of his catalog, so much so I have covered his songs in my band many times. We couldn’t be more excited to have him join the Primary Wave family and look forward to a long partnership.”
