Wilson Pickett Estate Partners With Primary Wave in Music Catalog and Name, Image & Likeness Deal

The estate of Wilson Pickett has entered a new partnership with Primary Wave Music covering an interest in the late soul singer’s music publishing catalog as well as participation in his name, image and likeness rights.

Announced September 2, the agreement will also give Pickett’s estate access to Primary Wave’s marketing and publishing infrastructure. The two sides plan to develop new opportunities involving marketing, branding, digital platforms, synchronization licensing and film and television projects. Financial terms were not disclosed. The partnership places songs connected to one of the defining voices of 1960s soul inside a growing Primary Wave portfolio built around legacy music and artist estates.

Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that reached the U.S. R&B charts, with many crossing onto the Billboard Hot 100. Among the best-known recordings associated with the new partnership are “In the Midnight Hour,” “Mustang Sally” and “Land of 1000 Dances.”

“In the Midnight Hour,” co-written by Pickett and Steve Cropper, was released in 1965 and reached No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Primary Wave says the recording sold more than one million copies and earned a Grammy nomination.

There is an interesting music-business connection behind that song: Primary Wave acquired Steve Cropper’s publishing catalog in 2016. The Wilson Pickett estate agreement therefore gives the company interests connected with both writers of one of Pickett’s signature compositions. Pickett’s 1966 recording of “Mustang Sally” reached No. 6 on the R&B chart and No. 23 on the Hot 100 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.

That same year, his version of “Land of 1000 Dances” became his third R&B No. 1 and reached No. 6 on the Hot 100, his highest placement on the pop chart.

For Pickett’s family, the agreement is not limited to collecting publishing revenue from established songs. His brother Max Pickett said promoting Wilson’s legacy since his death has been a personal responsibility and described the Primary Wave partnership as a way of keeping his music in front of future generations.

Primary Wave partner David Weitzman pointed to Pickett’s work with figures including Jerry Wexler, the Stax Records team, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and Gamble & Huff as part of the body of music the company now intends to help preserve and expand commercially.

That can include new synchronization placements, digital campaigns, branding and potentially audiovisual projects built around Pickett’s music and identity.

The Wilson Pickett partnership is part of a much larger Primary Wave strategy. In June, the company struck a deal with the Donna Summer estate covering her catalog, recordings and name, image and likeness rights. In July, Primary Wave partnered with Foreigner co-founder Mick Jones in an agreement involving publishing and recording catalogs, Foreigner’s name, image and likeness, and touring.

Primary Wave also completed its acquisition of Kobalt in July in a transaction valued at approximately $1.5 billion, further expanding its position within independent music publishing. The company says its broader catalog now spans more than 1,000 Top 10 singles and over 400 No. 1 hits.

Pickett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 1993 and was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2024. He died of a heart attack on January 19, 2006, at age 64. Two decades after his death, the new Primary Wave agreement demonstrates how the business surrounding classic music increasingly extends beyond ownership or administration of songs themselves.

Publishing, synchronization, branding, name and likeness rights and new audiovisual projects are becoming interconnected parts of how historic artist catalogs are managed for another generation. For Wilson Pickett’s estate, some of soul music’s most durable recordings are now at the center of that strategy.

Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist

IMAGE CREDIT: Primary Wave / Press

Listen to Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” below: