The Notorious B.I.G.’s estate sells rights to late rapper’s music

The Notorious B.I.G.’s estate has sold a significant share of the rapper’s catalogue to Primary Wave, a music publishing company which already owns the rights to many significant acts - including stakes in the catalogues of Kurt Cobain, John Lennon and Prince.

The company confirmed the deal with Biggie’s estate on Thursday but has not provided any financial details. However, previous reports by The Hollywood Reporter suggested that the rapper’s publishing rights would be worth as much as $100 million (€92.3 million) with a further $50 million ($46.1 million) potentially on the cards for his master rights.

Sources have said that the estate has sold 50% of both these rights to Primary Wave, as well as his name and likeness.

This gives Primary Wave a controlling share of Biggie’s catalogue which they can use for licensing the songs to films and TV series as well as other branding opportunities through the rights over his name and likeness.

Voletta Wallace, the rapper’s mother, reportedly made the deal with the company before her death in late February.

One of the most influential figures in the East Coast rap scene, Biggie’s first album ‘Ready to Die’ (1994) is considered a classic of the genre. The rapper, real name Christopher Wallace, was murdered in 1997 aged just 24, weeks before the release of his follow-up album ‘Life After Death’.

Through his mother’s control of his estate, Biggie has released two posthumous albums and has had his life depicted in the biopic Notorious.

Biggie is just the latest of a string of musicians to sell their catalogues to a range of firms. Recently, the EDM producer Deadmau5 sold his catalogue to Create Music Group for $55 million (€50.8 million).

One of the biggest sales of these kinds was Sony Music’s acquisition of Queen’s catalogue. The British glam-rock band reportedly sold the rights to their music for $1.27 billion (€1.17 billion) in June 2024.

Other high-profile sales include Bruce Springsteen selling his back catalogue to Sony for an estimated $500 million (€465 million) in 2021. Sony acquired all of Bob Dylan’s back catalogue in 2022 for €220 million, as well as a 50 per cent interest in Michael Jackson's music catalogue for roughly $600 million (approx. €558 million).